This is not a Philadelphia thing. We have lost something as a nation. We’ve lost our…connective tissue. We’ve lost our courage. We’ve lost our humanity, I think.
A 35-year-old man in Pennsylvania is facing rape and assault charges after a woman was sexually assaulted on board a public transit train Wednesday night as riders witnessed the attack but did not intervene, authorities said on Friday.
The woman was assaulted at around 11 p.m. while riding the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) Market-Frankford line towards the town of Upper Darby.
“The assault was observed by a SEPTA employee, who called 911, enabling SEPTA officers to respond immediately and apprehend the suspect in the act,” Andrew Busch, a SEPTA spokesperson, said in a statement.
SEPTA officers arrested the man, later identified as 35-year-old Fiston Ngoy, according to Upper Darby Police Superintendent Timothy Bernhardt.
Surveillance video captured the entirety of the assault, giving investigators enough evidence to charge Ngoy with rape and assault, Bernhardt told NBC Philadelphia.
The video also shows how riders, who also witnessed the attack, did nothing to help the woman being assaulted, according to Bernhardt.
“It’s disturbing,” he said. “I’m shocked, I have no words for it. I just can’t imagine seeing what you were seeing through your own eyes and seeing what this woman was going through that no one would step in and help her.”
This story frightens me. As a father of four daughters this scares the hell out of me. As a human being, I’m horrified. We’ve lost the notion that some things are worth fighting for. Some things are worth dying for. There is right and wrong.
We’ve lost the sense that others need to be protected sometimes. We owe that to one another. We’ve lost. We’ve lost. We’ve lost. We’ve lost so much and we will continue losing until we can’t remember what it is we’ve lost.
We’ve had so many generations who resisted any and all standards and truths that meaninglessness itself has become a victory. Well, you’ve won. And we have all lost.
