Within the newest violent assault on the county’s mass transit system, a person driving a Metro bus stole a fellow passenger’s cellphone on Tuesday after putting the sufferer with a pair of pliers in a daring daytime theft, in response to authorities.
Officers responded to studies of a stabbing on a Metro bus shortly after 2 p.m. at Balboa and Ventura boulevards in Encino, in response to Officer Jeff Lee with the Los Angeles Police Division. However when officers arrived on the scene they realized {that a} man repeatedly struck one other passenger within the chest with a pair of pliers whereas they had been driving on the bus. Police arrested a person on suspicion of assault and battery whereas he was attempting to stroll away, in response to Metro authorities.
The sufferer was evaluated by paramedics with the Los Angeles Hearth Division, however didn’t want medical help.
“Metro thanks the LAPD for its fast motion to apprehend the suspect on this case,” a Metro spokesperson mentioned.
The suspect was recognized as 39-year-old Michael Lindsey, Lee mentioned, and he was booked on theft and is being held in lieu of $1.1 million bail. Lindsey had been issued a quotation on Friday for giving a false identification to a police officer within the metropolis of Azusa and in an unrelated incident pleaded no contest to theft of private property in November, in response to courtroom information .
Tuesday’s theft follows an increase of violent incidents on the county mass transit system, together with a pair of stabbings that occurred on or close to the Metro system on Monday. However Metro officers say the speed of crime per passengers on the system is down.
On Monday night, a struggle broke out amongst three youngsters and a person on a Metro bus round 7 p.m., in response to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Division. The bus driver stopped the bus on Los Feliz Highway at South Central Avenue in Glendale, the place the group acquired off and continued to struggle on the street, in response to authorities. The person and one of many youngsters had been stabbed within the struggle, in response to authorities, who later arrested the 2 different youngsters.
Only a few hours later, a person attacked a girl on an elevator on the Vermont/Athens Metro Station alongside the 105 Freeway, in response to authorities. The girl was handled at a hospital for a stab wound to the arm and launched, authorities mentioned.
Anybody with details about both incident can contact the Sheriff’s Division at (323) 563-5000.
Though a number of crimes towards Metro passengers have been within the information lately, Metro says fewer crimes are being reported per passenger. In accordance with Metro, there have been just a little over 5 crimes reported per million boardings in March, which was about 28% decrease than in February and 41% decrease than in March 2023.
The overall variety of Metro bus and prepare boardings in March 2024 was 25.8 million.
Whereas reported crimes are down, that’s of little consolation to bus drivers who’ve been the victims of a number of current assaults.
Earlier this month, tons of of Metro bus riders staged a sick-out in protest of the rising variety of assaults amongst their ranks carried out by passengers.
Unionized prepare and bus operators have criticized Metro for failing to reply forcefully sufficient `to violence on the system. Drivers have been the goal of a number of current assaults, together with one in Willowbrook the place a person stabbed a bus driver in April whereas passengers watched.
Final yr, the company logged 168 assaults towards bus drivers, a slight improve from the earlier yr. The assaults included being spit on and stabbed.
A Metro spokesperson mentioned the company had taken a number of steps to extend safety, together with including extra safety personnel on buses to discourage assaults and creating barriers to guard drivers. These boundaries had been permitted final month and are set to be put in in buses over the approaching yr.
The company can also be “engaged on long term plans, which embody the addition of much more devoted transit safety bus driving groups,” company spokesperson Dave Sotero mentioned in an emailed assertion on the time of the sick-out.
“Bus operators are the face of Metro to greater than 80% of Metro riders,” Sotero mentioned. “We perceive their and their households’ concern within the face of the mindless assaults some have skilled primarily ensuing from the dual crises of untreated psychological sickness and drug dependancy. We share their frustration.”
Occasions workers author Rachel Uranga contributed to this report.
