Fewer Metro Riders Report Being Fondled, Groped; More Than 3,700 Say They Have Been
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com/AP) — A new survey finds nearly one out of every 14 Metro passengers has been fondled or groped while riding public transit in Los Angeles County during the past six months.
The Los Angeles Times reports Friday that the poll also found that one in 10 has been subjected to indecent exposure on a bus or train.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority asked 20,000 riders whether they had experienced any form of sexual harassment on transit in the past half-year. About 19 percent — or 3,760 people — said yes.
The newspaper says that's a decrease from last spring, when 22 percent of riders reported "unwanted sexual behavior."
Some riders told KNX 1070's Claudia Peschiutta how safe they felt depended mostly on which Metro line they took.
"I would never get on the Blue Line, I would never take the bus," said one woman. "Maybe the DASH, I'll take the DASH in the downtown area maybe."
Metro attributes the drop to a public awareness campaign aimed at deterring harassment and encouraging riders to report it.
Last May, a 23-year-old man was charged with sexually assaulting a woman aboard a Metro Purple Line train.
Just weeks prior to his arrest, a 21-year-old man accused of sexually assaulting a mentally disabled woman in broad daylight aboard a Metro bus in 2012 pleaded no contest to the charges.
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