Woman charged for racist scribble on subway car

A woman is crediting the “power” of social media for leading police to lay criminal charges Sunday against the alleged culprit who targeted her with a racial rant and an anti-Black slur aboard a TTC subway car Friday.

Dionne Callaghan posted photos and descriptions about the incident that happened when she was on her way home from work.

On Sunday, Toronto police said they had charged a woman with mischief — damage property under $5,000 and harassment by threatening. Police are not releasing her identity over fears for her safety. An online petition about her conduct includes scores of vitriolic comments.

Callaghan said she was sitting on a subway train on Friday across from a woman and small child who was “scribbling feverishly” on the train’s wall with a magic marker. “I looked up and looked down again. But I saw her pointing at me and mouthing some obscenities and racial slurs,” said Callaghan, who was wearing earphones at the time. “She took the pen from her child, and she started writing something,” she explained. Callaghan used her phone to take the woman’s photo to report the vandalism. The woman got up to leave, pointed again and Callaghan — and the message — then disembarked the train with her child.

Callaghan tweeted about the incident to the TTC and was told the incident fit the profile of a hate crime and she should contact police. The TTC official also apologized. After the complaint, the TTC pulled the train from service to remove the offf fensive scribble.