Today, June 20th, I went to the County of Arlington Courthouse to testify in regards to the incident listed here:

On May 2nd, 2007, at approximately 9:00 a.m. as I descended the Metro Platform escalator to Terminal C at Ronald Reagan National Airport I heard a man say loudly “you don’t know who you messin’ with” I looked down to see a man pounding his fist into another man near the bottom of the escalator. The victim, was curled into a protective stance (almost a fetal position), not fighting, not making any effort to inflict injury yet the man kept hitting him.

I waved my arm and pointed to the area to try to grab the Metro Attendants attention, but he could not see clearly what I was trying to point out. As I reached the area I told the man to back away and stop hitting the other man. He hit him a few more time before the Metro Attendant arrived and he listened to him. The Metro attendant told the assailant: you need to get out of my station, get out of here. And after hitting the victim several more times he did leave the station.

There was blood splattered and pooled on the floor and a dumb bell, I only saw him use his fists as a weapon, not the dumb bell. When the victim sat up it was clear he had been hurt, there was blood dripping from his mouth and on his clothes. The Metro attendant, placed a cone at one area to direct people away from the blood, and I placed a similar cone on the opposite side.

The Metro Attendant then called over the Airport intercom for security to immediately arrive.

I asked if I should stay for a statement or something, the attendant returned to his booth and grabbed a pad of paper and told me to write my name, address and phone number down. I asked the attendant why he let the assailant go, his answer: he works for the here.

I was not a witness to what the victim may have said or done to instigate the assailant, but I’m fairly certain there was not excuse to continue hitting him. I am also no expert on security or protocols for WMATA, but I know letting an assailant go because of where he works is wrong.

The above mentioned statement was sent to Arlington County Police Department, WMATA, Jim Graham and some others. WMATA’s response is that they have spoken with the Metro Attendant and he claims he didn’t know who the assailant was. Today, I was informed that both the assailant and the victim worked at the same restaurant/cafe within the airport. WMATA said they had given descriptions of the assailant to the police and that the Metro attendant followed procedure and did nothing wrong.

Unfortunately the victim in this matter did not show up, his number has been disconnected and he no longer works where he did work. The prosecuting attorney asked for an extension and this matter may come up again in August or October. I was also informed that he did use the dumb bell to strike the victim, and that he was indeed in jail.

The saddest part of this entire experience was knowing approximately 10 “human beings” walked right by while this man inflicted injury upon another human being. They did nothing to stop it, nor even help the victim.