New video released of Philly trolley assault

WPVI logo
Saturday, January 24, 2015
VIDEO: New video released of Philly trolley assault
Philadelphia police have released new surveillance video of an attack on a teenage girl on board a SEPTA trolley.

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Philadelphia police have released new surveillance video of an attack on a teenage girl on board a SEPTA trolley.

The video shows the suspect who assaulted the 17-year-old girl. The man became violent after her backpack kept hitting him, police said.

WATCH: Surveillance video of trolley attack suspect

The attack occurred on the Route 15 trolley Wednesday morning.

The victim, Shay, is 17. We're withholding her full name at the family's request.

"My nose, I gotta breathe a certain way. I gotta sneeze a certain way. I can't move my mouth in certain directions because it hurts my nose too bad," she said.

She says she had just hopped on the trolley at Broad and Girard for the short trip to school.

"My bag kept bumping this man and he was getting mad that my bag was bumping him. He starting calling me out and getting real smart with me," Shay said.

She ignored him.

But she says the man got up, threatened her in her ear, and ripped her off her hat.

When she saw he had his fists clenched, she tried to defend herself.

"I hit him and he hit me at like the same time. He hit me like three or four times in the face," Shay said.

Another rider captured the incident on cell phone video.

"He's a creep on a bus full of kids. If the book bag is hitting understand you're on a bus full of kids, it happens," her mother told Action News.

The man fled at 7th and Girard.

Shay's mother then got the call no mother wants - her daughter had been attacked and was on the way to Jefferson University Hospital.

An ER nurse herself, Shay's mother feared the worst and broke down.

"To know that a man hit her, she's a kid. When she called me she was like this grown man just hit me in the face," her mother said.

Shay says she's never seen him prior to the attack.

And while her injuries will heal, Shay and her mother worry about the emotional scars.

"I hope he gets caught and I hope he feels like I feel," Shay said.

The suspect is described as being approximately 35 years of age, 5'6 to 5'8, salt and pepper mustache and goatee, wearing a black skull hat, blue striped shirt, black trench coat, and dark jeans.

Anyone who may know of the suspect's identity should contact police.

Copyright © 2024 WPVI-TV. All Rights Reserved.