PHILADELPHIA — A woman was raped on the Market-Frankford Line on Wednesday night and SEPTA has noted in a statement that other passengers had not called 911 to summon police.
In the statement Friday the transit agency said that “anyone witnessing an emergency” needed to report it immediately.
“The assault was observed by a SEPTA employee, who called 911, enabling SEPTA officers to respond immediately and apprehend the suspect in the act,” the agency said. ”There were other people on the train who witnessed this horrific act, and it may have been stopped sooner if a rider called 911.”
The attack occurred around 10 p.m. as the train headed west toward Upper Darby, according to Timothy Bernhardt, Upper Darby police superintendent.
The suspect, Fishton Ngoy, 35, is being held in Delaware County Prison charged with rape, indecent assault, and other crimes. Bail has been set at 10% of $180,000.
Bernhardt said the assault was caught entirely on surveillance video, which detectives are reviewing.
Ngoy is believed to be homeless, police said.
The chief said it was uncertain whether other passengers watched the assault and simply ignored it or if they feared intervention.
“There were other people on the el,” Bernhardt said. He said he was uncertain if people were watching the assault.
“Are they watching, I don’t know,” he said. “Again, we’re still going through the video, but there was a lot of people in my opinion that should have intervened, somebody should have done something. It speaks to where we are in society and who would allow something like that to take place. So it’s troubling.”
According to court records, Ngoy was convicted of drug possession in a 2015 arrest in Delaware County and is facing unresolved charges from 2020 and earlier this year in Philadelphia and Delaware County involving public drunkenness, resisting arrests and scalping tickets.
In the most arrest, the scalping charge, he is being represented by the Defender Association, which provides lawyers for people too poor to hire one.
The records say he had used an alias of Fiston Mukombola.
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