53-year-old woman sues Metro for negligence after alleged attack on train in Long Beach

By Tim Pulliam

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    LONG BEACH, California (KABC) — A woman is suing L.A. Metro for negligence after she says she was attacked while riding a Metro train in Long Beach.

“It’s almost shameful that it happened to me. I just want to make sure that this doesn’t happen to anybody else,” said the woman, who does not wish to be publicly identified. She is now in therapy and says she is no longer the same person.

Months after she was attacked, she is seeking $2 million from the transportation agency, saying Metro leaders are failing to keep Metro passengers safe.

Back in May, the victim says she was riding a train with a male friend when another man started hurling racial slurs at her. That was followed by alleged physical and racial assaults by two women who were caught on camera.

“I tried to get out of her way and she started punching me and I fell backward. She kept punching,” the woman said.

She says witnesses intervened.

Long Beach police have not made any arrests and say there’s no indication the alleged attack was a hate crime.

“How could it not be? They didn’t target my friend who was there, who looks Caucasian, who was bigger than I was. He didn’t get a scratch.”

The 53-year-old claims part of Metro’s negligence is from the conductor’s lack of intervention. She claims she pleaded for him to stop the train for 11 minutes while calling police.

“I think it’s appalling,” said Steven Haney, the victim’s attorney.

Haney says they’re working to find the identity of the conductor to include him in the lawsuit, as well as subpoena police records and evidence such as security video – a probe to see what protocols were in place during the attack.

“The purpose of public transportation is so people can safely use that public transportation, and the people at the county are dropping the ball,” Hanney added.

When reached for a statement, L.A. Metro said it does not comment on pending litigation.

Just last week, a person was rushed to the hospital after being attacked on the train near the Southwest Museum station.

After that incident, Metro said: “Safety is, and always has been Metro’s utmost priority, with our multi-layered approach to safety resulting in an overall reduction of crime by 54% since April 2023.”

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