Her badly beaten and bruised face became a symbol of the seeming randomness of urban violence.
Sarah Kreager, 26, had been riding a transit bus Dec. 4 in Baltimore when, she said, nine middle schoolers attacked her. Kreager, who is white, claimed race motivated the attackers, all black, and the story soon grabbed national headlines.
A week later, two men were assaulted on a city bus. Then came a stabbing of a middle-school girl as she stepped off a bus and the shooting of a 14-year-old boy aboard another bus.
With the four incidents raising safety concerns among bus passengers, The Examiner interviewed Maryland Transit Administration Police Chief David Franklin about security.
Q: With the beating of Kreager and the shooting of a 14-year-old boy among several recent high-profile attacks on Baltimore City buses, do you still consider them safe?
A: We transport 250,000 passengers on between 500 to 700 buses every day. The majority of those trips are uneventful. We?ve had 47 part 1 [felony] crimes this year. When you look at the total number of people transported on our buses, I would say, yes, our system is very safe.
Q: Have there been any murders or rapes on city buses this year?
A: It is alleged we had a rape on a light rail, but nothing like that on a bus. Based on the amount of passengers, our bus safety is tremendous.
Q: Even so, what can you do better?
A: We are improving safety, instituting things such as visible roving patrols, bus checks and having plainclothes police officers riding the buses. We?re doing that all over the city, particularly in problem areas. We?ve identified another 15 to 20 troubled school routes. Our bus operators will be calling MTA or Baltimore City police at the first sign of trouble.
Q: In the assault on Kreager, the bus surveillance camera wasn?t working. I?ve heard that?s a widespread problem on MTA buses. What percentage of cameras are inoperable?
A: I don?t know a percentage. Some are not working. There are obviously issues with them. We have already implemented a new maintenance plan, removing and repairing some of them. That?s an area we?re improving.
Q: Do you find most of your problems stem from school students causing trouble on the buses?
A: We have more juvenile problems than adults. I think it?s only 5 [percent] to 15 percent of the kids causing the problem. Some of our young people have lost their moral compass. They need to be taught the appropriate behavior.
Q: You?ve said the MTA plans to hand over footage of unruly student passengers to school officials. What is your understanding of how this information will be used?
A: These are cases where no crime has been committed but the students are acting inappropriately. We?re sharing data back and forth. It?s my understanding the school officials will have a sit-down with the young juveniles and have a talk about expectations and what proper conduct should be. We can?t arrest our way out of this situation and we can?t do it by ourselves. These students are bringing these troubles to our system. Parents are really an integral part to fixing this situation.
Q: In two of the four recent attacks that made the news, the victims, who were white, alleged that their assailants, who were black, were motivated, at least to some degree, by race. Do you believe or did your investigators believe that there have been racially motivated attacks on MTA buses this month?
A: We simply are collecting the facts. We give it all to the state?s attorney. They make the calls with regard to any race issues. They?ll make that decision. [The Baltimore City State?s Attorney?s Office has not brought any hate-crime charges forward in Kreager?s case.] We don?t ever take something and call it a hate crime. That?s not one of our priorities.
Q: Are there any plans to separate students from adults by contracting yellow buses to transport the students?
A: We have not talked about that.
A violent December on city buses
» Dec. 4: Sarah Kreager, 26, told police she was twice denied an open seat by nine Robert Poole Middle School students before she was “immediately attacked” upon sitting down on the No. 27 bus. The six boys and three girls ? all 14 and 15 years old ? charged with punching and kicking Kreager at the intersection of 33rd Street and Chestnut Avenue have a juvenile court hearing scheduled for Jan. 4.
» Dec. 11: Two white males told police they were assaulted by five black males because of their race in a fight at 11:57 p.m. on the No. 64 bus on South Hanover Street in South Baltimore?s Brooklyn neighborhood. Police released surveillance photos of the men wanted for questioning in the alleged assault but have made no arrests.
» Dec. 18: A middle-school girl was stabbed in the arm while fighting with other youth on a bus near Mondawmin Mall.
» Dec. 26: A 14-year-old boy was shot in the leg on the No. 15 bus at 12:45 a.m. after a passenger he had been arguing with re-entered the bus through the back exit and shot him. The victim was transported to University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center, treated for non-life-threatening injuries and released. Police are searching for the suspect. ? Luke Broadwater
