Maryland

Man, Juvenile Arrested in Assault of Blind Man on Red Line Metro Train

The two men allegedly pushed a blind man with a service dog after he bumped into them on the train Monday morning.

Metro Transit Police announced Wednesday the arrests of one adult and one juvenile in connection to the assault of a blind man aboard a Red line train earlier this week.

Darion Rivers, 18, of Prince George’s County, Maryland, was charged in the District with two counts of assault, while a unnamed juvenile was charged with three counts of assault from the same incident aboard a Shady Grove-bound train.

Police and witnesses said the two men assaulted a blind man with a service dog after he bumped into one of the passengers during the Monday morning commute.

The man boarded the train with his service dog as other passengers pushed their way onto the crowded train at the Rhode Island Ave station, one witness told Popville. He accidentally bumped into a passenger, who then confronted the man, police said.

The man told the passenger he was blind, and as the train started moving, the passenger began threatening and pushing the blind man, police said. Another witness tried to step in and diffuse the situation but the passenger and another suspect began shouting obscenities at her.

When she tried to call the police, the suspects tried to grab her cellphone but failed to get it, police said

The witness, who wrote to Popville, said she recorded another exchange between the the two suspects and a passenger, and that the incident was reported to a station manager at the next stop who did not intervene.

Police said the two suspects ran off the train when it pulled into Union Station. The blind man was not injured in the assault.

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