Cops seek thug in MBTA attack on teen women

Cops seek thug in MBTA attack on teen women

ON TAPE: Cameras 
captured images of the suspect in an MBTA attack.
By Richard Weir  |   Saturday, December 4, 2010  |  http://www.bostonherald.com  |  Local Coverage

Transit police are on the prowl for a brawny thug who assaulted two teenage women aboard an Orange Line train, spewing “homophobic and racial slurs” at them before delivering several violent kicks and spitting in their faces, according to cops.

The “bizarre” attack took place Nov. 19 at 10:55 p.m. as the women rode an Orange Line train between Malden and Sullivan Square, said Sgt. Detective Michael Adamson.

“They were sitting there minding their own business. We don’t know what his motivation was,” Adamson said.

For an unknown reason, the stocky, 6-foot-tall assailant approached the 18- and 19-year-old women, calling them lesbians and using a racial slur aimed at the younger woman, who is black, according to a police report.

He then “kicked one of them in the face, cutting her lip, and delivered a blow to the other’s chest,” Adamson said.

The suspect exited the train at Sullivan Square and fled, but was caught on surveillance camera. The women got off at Ruggles Station, where they notified cops but declined medical aid.

Adamson said it was unclear why the man targeted the women, saying “there was nothing whatsoever to lead the suspect to know” their sexualities.

Police asked for the public’s help in identifying the attacker, described as a white man in his 20s, wearing a black and gray Kangol hat, black leather jacket, jeans, white sneakers and a green T-shirt with white lettering.

Adamson added that investigators are working with prosecutors to determine whether the alleged attack rises to the level of a hate crime.

Anyone with information is asked to call the transit police at 617-222-1212.

Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1300717