6 Teens Charged With Assault After Metro Station Attack

Six high school students accused of beating and kicking a man in a downtown D.C. Metro station last week were charged Wednesday with multiple counts of assault, including on a police officer.

Six Woodrow Wilson High School students appeared in court after the Jan. 28 attack in the Gallery Place-Chinatown station.

The five boys and one girl, all 16 or 17, were charged as juveniles with aggravated assault, assault with significant bodily injury, assault on a police officer and conspiracy.

All but one of the students was released pending a court date later this month. 

Metro Transit Police Chief Ron Pavlik previously said he and riders were disturbed by the assault.

"It's troubling when you see this kind of wolf pack mentality," he said.

Chancellor of DC Public Schools Kaya Henderson dismissed concerns about students acting violently on Metro.

"I reject this notion that wild bands of roving students are attacking people on the Metro. There are incidents on the Metro this year, just like there are incidents on the Metro last year and the other years," Henderson said, "Just like this year, just like last year, kids have been riding the Metro to and from school."

The 35-year-old victim, who had been headed to work, was exiting a Red Line train about 8:20 a.m. when a teen who was part of a group of as many as 30 youths tried to board the train and then sucker punched him, Metro Transit Police said. The victim swung back, and the teens lunged at him.

The teens then got back on the train, leaving the victim injured on the platform, police said.

Surveillance video of the attack shows a group of people rush onto an already-crowded Metro platform.

Transit police intercepted the train at the Woodley Park station and arrested the teens.

The victim was taken to a hospital and treated for cuts to the head, police said.

It wasn't immediately clear if the teens would be allowed to return to Wilson High; D.C. Public Schools leaders are checking the status of the students.

The D.C. Office of the Attorney General declined to comment on the charges.

Anyone with information for police is asked to call 202-962-2121 or send a text message to MYMTPD.

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