SEPTA train rape narrative is NOT TRUE...

[Demovictory9]

The story of a horrific rape last week aboard a SEPTA train on the outskirts of Philly seemed to get even worse when cops revealed that bystanders sat by and did nothing to help, instead holding up their phones to record the incident. Now, Delaware County's chief prosecutor says that narrative is a false one, and that there's surveillance video to prove it. "That is simply not true. It did not happen," District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer said Thursday of the story floating that fellow passengers "watched this transpire and took videos of it for their own gratification," per NBC Philadelphia.


Stollsteimer says SEPTA security footage shows a "handful" of travelers hopping on and off the elevated commuter train on Oct. 13, but he adds they may not have realized exactly what was happening, especially during the times when the train was moving. As for everyone sitting around recording the rape, Stollsteimer says there may have been two people who did so, but at least one of them "probably" flagged down SEPTA staff. "People in this region are not, in my experience, so inhuman and callous" that they would do such a thing "for their own private enjoyment," Stollsteimer notes.

The original passengers-did-nothing narrative emerged from SEPTA officials and Upper Darby Police Department Superintendent Timothy Bernhardt, with Bernhardt calling it "disturbing." On Thursday, Stollsteimer didn't appear to point the finger at anyone in particular, but he slammed what he said was "misinformation" and compared the case to that of Kitty Genovese, who was stabbed to death in Queens in 1964. The story at the time was that dozens of witnesses similarly ignored her pleas for help, but it's a tale that's since been debunked, Stollsteimer noted, per the Philadelphia Inquirer.

https://www.newser.com/story/312469/da-not-true-others-filmed-rape-for-own-gratification.html?utm_source=part&utm_medium=uol&utm_campaign=rss_world_login

[Wingus Dingus]

1. Uh...it still seems like a sexual assault with an unwilling victim

should have been disrupted by somebody, either by calling the police or creating a commotion of some sort or even just trying to shield the woman from this piece of shit. Isn't there a button or cord or something that can be pulled to set off an alarm to stop the train? What did the other commuters think was happening?

[brooklynite]

8. "Isn't there a button or cord or something that can be pulled to set off an alarm to stop the train?

Not in this case; that would be the worst thing you could do.

Pulling the emergency cord would activate the train brakes. You would then be stuck in the same car with the assailant between stations where police would not be able to easily intervene.

[Wingus Dingus]

15. Pull the alarm at a stop then. Can't that be done? This is what

I would consider a true emergency--someone's undergoing a terrible physical assault.

[Hortensis]

17. The point is that it did not seem like an assault with an unwilling victime

to most of those there, at most a couple were concerned that it might be something else. The investigators have gone out of their way to say the story of depraved onlookers recording a rape for entertainment is not true, that they didn't know it was other than some people misbehaving in public.

Personally, I'm VERY glad to know those passengers didn't behave that way.

[Wingus Dingus]

18. It's pretty fucking depraved to watch even truly consensual intercourse on a train

without alerting authorities. But the initial police report said it was obvious she was trying to get away from this man, from the surveillance video.

[Hortensis]

19. Depraved to record it to show friends, maybe, but people

invade each other's privacy all the time now, often with feelings of great virtue. Some take special delight in displaying bad behaviors for social media mobs to attack; of course they always deserve everything the mob dishes, even ruined lives. Depraved is the word, all right.

I guess I've lived a less protected life than most. People having various levels of sex in public is not that uncommon. If I commuted on that train each day I might just call the police, but I haven't while walking through a park or past a car.

What I would put money on as a factor in this is that almost no one did anything specifically because no one else seemed to think anything was wrong (beyond unseemly consensual behavior) and didn't act. Very common group behavior -- people look to others for clues to what to think and how to act. I've broken conformity a number of times before and like to think I'd have been among those who became concerned enough to do more, but I can't know. I wasn't there.

You know, this story was shocking and got all this attention because it was thought that all these "normal" people behaved very aberrantly, abnormally, wickedly. Shocking because these things virutally never happen, causing horror that it did.

Well, it didn't. And now that it's turned out not to, it's time to be relieved that crowds of city people on city trains are not like that. Btw, I don't have to go to RW social media to know MAGAts must be very unwilling to give up this story of big city depravity.

[Wingus Dingus]

20. I have never seen people openly having sex in public.

I'm in my fifties, and I've lived all over this country, had many jobs and experiences in life. I'm not fresh off the farm. I would be shocked to see it, and would call the police. It's aberrant behavior. Something is not right. This prosecutor making this statement does not immediately make this story better. This is still a shocking and disgusting event.

[Hortensis]

24. Yes, the real story is a shocking and more than disgusting event.

That this could happen in a "safe" place in a train car with other people is frightening in a very basic sense, but we need to give up the need to target the other passengers now that we know it's inappropriate.

As for our life experiences, probably most of us were never concerned enough to wonder just what was happening under a blanket or the bleachers, in the pool room or the cars we passed in high school parking lots and drive-in movies. We know now that a lot of the assaults an appalling number of people now report took place with others around. Someone I know was "finger raped" in a crowded restaurant booth with friends close by, in the afternoon of a sunny day; she was so shocked and embarrassed that she didn't cry out while he hurt her. But didn't anyone wonder where his hand was or notice her face?

Oh well. It seems that given the initial outrage some of us are not yet emotionally ready to settle for the real but relatively mundane evil of this rape, and social media will accommodate those needs.

[Irish_Dem]

2. The article goes on to state that perhaps two people recorded the crime as it took place.

And "probably" one of them called the police, but no verification of that.

Passengers hopping on and off the train did not recognize a rape in progress?

[Wingus Dingus]

3. Yeah, it's weird. Maybe the prosecutor is trying to defend the city by saying, "It's not that bad!"

but it still looks pretty bad.

[Irish_Dem]

5. Yep, that is my read of it as well. He is trying to do damage control.

Minimizing what happened. And yes it still sounds bad.

[Wingus Dingus]

4. Even if they thought it was consensual, you still can't be doing that on a train.

I'd still call the police.

[Irish_Dem]

6. Exactly. Anyway you slice it, looks very bad.

[Wingus Dingus]

7. I find this story so disturbing, especially as a woman--that someone can

attack you like this, for many minutes, on camera, in public, and in full view of so many people--and everyone seems to have just let it happen without disruption. Just shows an increasing breakdown of society.

[Irish_Dem]

12. Yes, as women we think a public place is safe.

If we feel in danger, we automatically run to a location where there are people around.
We assume that this will discourage a criminal, and also that others will intervene.

Right, breakdown of the social contract. We are on our own these days.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

13. Rape doesn't always look like rape.

[Irish_Dem]

14. As someone else pointed out, consensual sex on a train should be reported.

In this case the victim was said to be pushing this guy away and obviously upset.
This did not look consensual then.

[sarisataka]

9. So it didn't happen...

But there were bystanders

They didn't intervene

Some did record whatever was happening...

So was there a sexual assault? If so it seems it did happen.

One of them "probably" flagged down SEPTA staff?
-wouldn't there be an incident report if someone told staff there was an assault on the train?
-or does SEPTA not investigate if they are informed of a possible felony?
There may actually be a bigger issue here.

[AkFemDem]

10. Oh, well that's a relief...

I’m glad that only some of the passengers knew what was happening and either looked away or filmed it. Glad that was clarified, so we can be less horrified about this woman being raped in a public place with eyewitnesses not helping her out. I suddenly feel confident and emboldened to ride SEPTA to upper Darby and my faith in the prosecutors office and their influence on lowering crime in Philly is restored! I mean, if I’m assaulted at least now I can rest assured one of my fellow passengers will *probably* notify a SEPTA employee after they leave me and my attacker on the train.

[yardwork]

22. Right? The article itself states that "only" two people sat around recording it.

[greenjar_01]

11. Kitty Genovese story was also untrue

[pinkstarburst]

16. Wow that's some pretty BS spin

[yardwork]

21. The text of the article doesn't match the headline assertion.

This doesn't refute the narrative that some people sat around recording it:

As for everyone sitting around recording the rape, Stollsteimer says there may have been two people who did so, but at least one of them "probably" flagged down SEPTA staff.

[former9thward]

23. The DA's statement is full of weasel words.

It is defensive and sounds like an elected official trying to do public relations and cover up of what actually happened.