19-Year-Old Woman Says She Fears Using Public Transportation After Attack On MTA Bus
BALTIMORE (WJZ)-- Police search for two men after a brazen attack on an Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) bus. A teenager was beaten repeatedly and she says no one on the bus did anything to stop it.
Kai Jackson explains the student now fears for her safety.
The attack happened last month on a crowded MTA bus. Nineteen-year-old student Ernestine Parker says she took a seat and was heading home. Parker says for no reason, two young men started punching and kicking her.
"The bus was real packed and the men just started jumping on me, just fighting me. And I couldn't really defend myself," she said.
Parker says she was beaten for eight blocks. She says the driver never stopped and none of the passengers tried to help.
The MTA captured surveillance video of the two men. They're now wanted by police for the vicious attack that left Parker battered and bruised.
"The operator, according to MTA police, was not aware of the incident. The victim in this case did not report the incident to the operator but afterwards got off the bus," MTA spokesman Terry Owens said.
Ernestine Parker's mother is furious over what happened. She wants the suspects caught and she wants her daughter to stay in school.
"She was scared to come to school. I forced her to come to school, because guess what? She's not going to be defeated," Yvette Parker, Ernestine Parker's mother, said.
Ernestine Parker says she doesn't know her attackers but she believes she was targeted because of her appearance.
"They thought I was a gay man on the bus," she said. "That's exactly what it was. I tell people I'm not going to change myself. I'm not going to change how I dress or anything. Because see, I know that I'm still a female. And I still carry myself like a female."
Ernestine Parker says since she was attacked, she's been depressed and her grades have suffered.
Yvette Parker said she is now working two jobs to buy a car so that her daughter does not have to ride the bus. Meanwhile, MTA says all of its buses are safe.
MTA police say the two men are in their early 20s and will face assault charges when they're caught.
