Charges withdrawn against SEPTA slasher, now age 85

The Delaware County District Attorney’s Office has withdrawn aggravated assault and related charges against an 85-year-old man with a history of attacking people getting off SEPTA buses.

Edward Gay has been housed at Norristown State Hospital since April 2016 and is not competent to stand trial, nor is he restorable to competency, Assistant District Attorney Jenna Smith told Common Pleas Court Judge James Bradley on Tuesday.

Gay, a homeless man who floated between Chester and Philadelphia, was arrested following an unprovoked knife attack on an Upper Darby teenager on a SEPTA bus in Springfield on March 16, 2016, according to Daily Times records.

He was restrained by an off-duty Widener University guard, who acted quickly to hold him at gunpoint until Springfield police could respond and take Gay into custody. It was the third such incident attributed to Gay involving attacks at SEPTA buses, two of which took place in Philadelphia.

He had also allegedly stabbed a man in the face getting off the bus in June 2015 in the Frankford section of the city, and again attacked a man stepping off the Night Owl bus at 46th and Market streets in November 2015.

Gay had been arrested following the June 2015 stabbing, but those charges were eventually dismissed after the victim bowed out of court proceedings.

Gay was being sought on aggravated assault charges for the November 2015 incident when he was arrested in Springfield. Online court records show those charges were likewise withdrawn in January.

In each instance, Gay had allegedly attacked a departing passenger after sitting near the back of the bus.

He reportedly used a variety of instruments to carry out the assaults, including a pen, screwdriver, and what was described as a steak knife in the Springfield attack. None of the victims suffered serious, life-threatening injuries, a SEPTA spokesperson previously said.

Gay has a long list of aliases and history of mental illness, as well as an arrest record going back to 1969 with charges that include aggravated assault and attempted murder.

He had pleaded guilty to aggravated assault in 1988 and was facing a 10year mandatory minimum sentence in this case under Pennsylvania’s “three strikes” law.

Smith said Tuesday that Gay is currently suffering from myriad health issues and now weighs just 90 pounds. She was advised by Norristown that having open charges makes it difficult to place him in the kind of care facility that has been recommended for his deteriorating condition.

Defense attorney Stephen Deavor had also moved to dismiss charges, but withdrew that motion Tuesday.