Legislator proposes ‘duty to assist’ law
In wake of rape on SEPTA train, bill would require bystanders to help victims
An Allegheny County legislator plans on introducing a bill requiring bystanders to help victims of accidents or crimes, pointing to a shocking incident last week near Philadelphia in which a woman was raped on a commuter train while other riders did nothing.
State Sen. Jim Brewster, D-Allegheny County, released a co-sponsorship memo on Tuesday seeking support from Senate colleagues for the “duty to assist” bill. Brewster wrote in the memo that the legislation would require bystanders to call emergency responders when they see someone “who has suffered physical harm at the scene of an accident or a crime.”
The idea for the bill came from a constituent who told him about a similar Minnesota law, Brewster wrote.
If approved, the legislation would make it a third-degree misdemeanor to fail to report that someone is in “great harm” or the victim of a crime.
In his memo, Brewster also referred to the “shocking example of the need for such legislation” by noting last week’s case out of Upper Darby Township in Delaware County. Police said a woman was raped by a homeless man on a Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) elevated train around 10 p.m. Oct. 13 as other riders failed to intervene or even call 911.
Fiston Ngoy, 35, was arrested only after a SEPTA employee reported an assault on a passing train and officers pulled him off the woman at the next stop. 6abc reported that SEPTA police Chief Thomas Nestel III said that on surveillance video it appears that some riders held their phones up to record the assault rather than help the victim.
“What we want is everyone to be angry and disgusted and to be resolute about making the system safer,” said Nestel, 6abc reported.
“It’s disturbing that there were definitely people on the (elevated train) and no one did anything to intervene or help this woman,” said Upper Darby police Superintendent Timothy Bernhardt, NBC 10 reported.
USA Today reported that SEPTA described the incident as a “horrendous criminal act” in a statement. “There were other people on the train who witnessed this horrific act, and it may have been stopped sooner if a rider called 911,” SEPTA said in the statement.