A new feature has been added to commuter rail service in California Now there are "flash mobs" provided to entertain the passengers of bay area commuters. Rather than the flash mobs that sing beautiful songs, these mobs are juveniles who belong in detention but instead roam the streets, or transit trains, robbing and beating passengers.
No doubt that when California gets its Bullet Train boondoggle funded they will have these unruly teens as passengers on that line too
BART takeover robbery: 40 to 60 teens swarm train, rob weekend riders
By Demian BulwaApril 24, 2017 Updated: April 24, 2017 12:48pm
A recent string of robberies on BART trains took a frightening turn when dozens of juveniles swarmed an Oakland station over the weekend and commandeered a train car, forcing passengers to hand over bags and cell phones and leaving at least two with head injuries, witnesses told the transit agency.
. . .According to a police officials, witnesses said 40 to 60 juveniles flooded the station, jumped the fare gates and rushed to the second-story train platform. Some of the robbers apparently held open the doors of a Dublin-bound train car while others streamed inside, confronting and robbing and in some cases beating riders.
The juveniles “committed multiple strong-arm robberies of bags and cell phones,” said a police summary prepared after the incident. “At least two victims suffered head/facial injuries requiring medical attention.”
Alicia Trost, a BART spokeswoman, said Monday that seven robberies had occurred — with victims losing a purse, a duffel bag and five phones. Six people were robbed inside the train car, with a seventh confronted on the platform, she said.
The attack was quick, police reported, and the teenagers were able to retreat from the station and vanish into the surrounding East Oakland neighborhood before BART officers could respond. The train that was hit was held for about 15 minutes as authorities investigated the crime and tended to the injured.
“We are in the process of pulling all surveillance video and we will share with Oakland police, Oakland Unified School District and Oakland Housing Authority to see if they can help identify the minors,” Trost said. “We have had success with sharing images of juveniles with this group and identifying and making arrests in the past.”
The images cannot be shared publicly, she said, because the suspects appear to be minors.
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A series of robberies on BART trains in recent weeks has prompted the agency to increase patrols — though this was apparently the first takeover-style heist.
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State of California would love that.