Posted by Dalal1979

Hello,

Today at the Royal Oaks RT station I was verbally attacked by a man. He was verbally attacking his girlfriend who was becoming an ex, after he was done screaming at her in public and in front of another 20 people, I walked to her and handed her a napkin and asked her if she was all right. He walked to me and started cursing and telling me to walk away or he’d F****me up, then he started calling me a terrorist and to go back to my country then he started saying some arabic words to me. He was drunk, I could smell it also he had a bag of white powder in his hand. Then he said I have nothing to do with whites or blacks. The sad thing, every single white person was laughing at me, and every single black person in his group was cheering for him. What about the woman he was verbally abusing while keeping her pushed to the wall? She was hispanic. Her face was dead frozen. What if that woman was hurt or killed by him? I did step up and got in his face and told him that I would call the police, but he and everyone else in his group said" go ahead call the popo on the black people." How far does it have to go before calling police about cases like this? Is it legal to drink and smoke whatever they smoke at the RT stations where kids and other people are waiting to go to their work or schools? How far does it have to get when a man is abusing a woman in public before the police department puts at least 1 or 2 cops out there? I am a SCC student and I use RT everyday, and I have seen enough drunk and drugies on the trains beside men masturbating not to mention half of the people ride for free which means they’re taking someone else’s right of the seat, someone who earned to sit there.

Also, is it too late to report the incident from today? I was told by a woman at Royal Oaks RT station, to walk away or I would get killed. How bad/seriously in danger are we that we can’t even defend others who are incapable of doing for themselves like that hispanic woman today?! Are there any answers? Thank you and have a blessed day.

Dear Dalal1979,

I applaud you for your compassionate nature. Far too often people become complacent or don’t want to get involved to help others for fear of retaliation or retribution. Even with your good intentions, you should not deal with him yourself. You should call 911 the next time you witness something like this. The Sacramento Police Department and the Sacramento Sheriff’s Department have a partnership with Regional Transit (RT). We have designated RT officers to handle such situations. We can deal with “Mr. Mouth” and help the woman as well. The man you dealt with was a bully. If you looked the word “bully” up in the dictionary, his photo could be posted next to the word. We deal with bullies every day.

The light rail is a still a safe mode of transportation. There are officers who ride the trains each day, seven days a week, to make sure there are no such problems on the light rail. That being said, the officers can’t be on every train. That’s why it is so important for citizens to call the Police Department to let the police and RT know when there is a problem. I will also forward your email to the RT police division so that they can be made aware of this situation. Thank you for your concern, and your post. You are a very fine citizen.