Police arrest man in Pa. subway hammer attack
9/10/2008 7:57:00 AM
Associated Press/AP Online
PHILADELPHIA - Police have arrested a man suspected of brutally attacking a dozing subway passenger with a hammer while other riders did nothing to stop the assault, the city's police commissioner said Wednesday.
The suspect, taken into custody in a mental institution late Tuesday, has a lengthy record of rape and other convictions, Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey said on NBC's "Today."
The victim was treated and released from a hospital.
Ramsey criticized other riders for standing by when the assailant entered the train with his 5-year-old son, directed the boy to a seat, calmly pulled a hammer from a backpack and attacked a man dozing in a nearby seat.
At least 10 other riders were in the car when the attack occurred last week, yet no one interfered as the man repeatedly struck the victim in the train car and later out on a platform, Ramsey said on "Today."
Well, thank heaven the attacker didn't have a gun - someone might have been hurt!
Finally, this amazing statement from a Philadelphia Police Commissioner:
"They better pray they're never a victim, because if someone was attacking them that way they would certainly hope someone would step forward and help, and it starts with stepping forward and doing something yourself," Ramsey said.
It is indeed amazing when a Philadelphia police commissioner has a better grasp of self-defense/defense of others than our own AG.