Police Investigating Attack on Student at Brookland Metro Station

WASHINGTON - Metro Transit Police are investigating the weekend attack of a rider at the Brookland Metro Station. The victim is a 23-year-old Catholic University graduate student from Ohio who says he was attacked by a group of kids early Sunday morning after he had gotten off a train from Silver Spring, where he had been visiting friends.

"They didn't take anything," the victim told FOX 5. "They had me on the ground. They could have hurt me if they wanted to."

FOX 5 agreed not to identify him by name because he is a crime victim.

"I let them know that I know they're following me and I just continue walking and some of them, one of them, comes up and takes me down ... and I'm on the ground and that's it. They get up and I get up ... and I walk away."

He says the attack was witnessed by a people at the bus stop who made sure he was OK. Police consider the crime a simple assault, which is any unwanted touching.

"We have had some incidents recently where there's been juvenile disorder involved," said Metro police captain Leslie Campbell. "We'll make sure that we address this issue at the Brookland station by looking at the crime trends and having more officers patrolling in that area."

The victim says a lone Metro supervisor was at the station when he was assaulted.

"There were kids jumping the fare gate, some kid knocks a sign down in the station. The person on duty, you can tell she's not happy about it at all, but what can she do? One person, dozens of kids," said the victim.

Captain Campbell says he can call for police.

"Reporting it immediately is always important because we will be able to get you help quicker and we may be able to solve any crime,’ said Campbell.

Metro says surveillance cameras may help them identify the troublemakers who apparently harassed another rider right before jumping the Catholic University student.

"There's a girl trying to get up to the train," said the victim. "And a bunch of the high school males were kind of blocking her and saying 'oh you're going to be late, oh you're going to be too late.' They're tripping her up. They're not touching her in any bad way, but they're just messing with her as well."

The victim says he's coming forward hoping the attention might scare the kids straight.

"Even though I was fine, I'm shaken up and who knows what will happen next time, right?"

To learn about Metro crime prevention tips, go to www.wmata.com/about_metro/transit_police/crime_prev.cfm