A video still taken from a surveillance tape showing the graphic beating of a teenage girl in Seattle's Metro bus tunnel, while uniformed security guards simply look on.
by KING5.com
Posted on February 10, 2010 at 11:12 AM
SEATTLE - In the wake of a KING 5 Investigators report on a video-tape showing the brutal beating of a teenage girl in the Seattle bus tunnel as security guards look on, King County Executive Dow Constantine has ordered Metro Transit to review polices that restrict what unarmed Transit security guards can do when seeing criminal activity.
The KING 5 Investigators uncovered a disturbing video-tape captured on five different security cameras underneath downtown Seattle.
It shows the graphic beating of a teenage girl in Seattle's Metro bus tunnel, while uniformed security guards simply look on.
The incident took place at around 7 p.m. on January 28.
When the beating is over, you see on the tape that not one guard bends down to see if the victim is breathing or needs help.
The guards are not trained police officers or Metro Transit employees. They're contract workers from Olympic Security Services out of Tukwila. According to their contract, the guards are to "observe and report" problems, not to get involved. Metro Transit General Manager Kevin Desmond says that policy is now out of date.
"You look at what's happening to the victim and you say something got to be changed," said Desmond. "That's just not going to be acceptable. We've had that ‘observe and report’ for years in our contract and this incident clearly shows that we need to change that."
Metro Transit has already launched a review to see what powers they should give the guards. They’re working with the King County Sheriff's Office to figure out how best to change the protocols.
In his order following the KING 5 report, Constantine said in a press release, "Public Safety is our top priority. I am appalled by the sight of uniformed guards standing by while a person was kicked and beaten. I have ordered a full review of all operating policies that govern Metro's contract with civilian security guards to determine what changes must be made."
Metro Transit Police and King Co. Sheriff’s deputies worked around the clock to track down the suspects. School yearbooks, MySpace pages and Facebook helped lead them to those involved. Four people have been arrested so far, including the female attacker. A 17-year-old male is still at large.
Police say that amazingly the victim is going to be OK.
Report will say "bitch was getten her ass stomped out!" lol woulda been better if guards were eating popcorn lol
wow how you gonna not stop a girl from gettin stomped out even you saw reason she was getting stomped out and she deserved it. Ok she got a lil ass whoopin now get dude off her. If id been there id walked close to dude pushed his ass back tellin him to chill out an looked at him and all his homies like what!!! end of story
lol but why have security guards who only "observe and report" lol ? those are called secretary guards lol
