Juvenile arrested in Red Line harassment incident 

Local News

Several teens allegedly smashed a window on a Red Line train last month, threatened to rob passengers, and targeted a woman of Asian descent, according to police.

MBTA Transit Police have arrested a 16-year-old boy in connection with an incident last month where teens allegedly smashed a window on a Red Line train and harassed passengers onboard.

Police previously shared photos of the aftermath from the Sept. 21 disturbance and said the teens threatened to rob passengers and taunted some individuals based on their ethnicity. 

Transit Police Superintendent Richard Sullivan told The Boston Globe that the group targeted a woman of Asian descent and tried to mimic a stereotypical accent — an incident that was captured on video. 

Vivian Dang, the target of the alleged harassment, told NBC10 Boston that the teens yelled racial slurs at her and that one of the boys pushed the wheels of his bicycle into her face.

“One of them screamed, ‘Don’t let her leave,’ and at that point, that’s when I felt the true shock because at that point they could follow me home,” Dang told NBC10. “I was afraid to get off [at] my stop, personally, because I was afraid they would follow me.”

The teens got off the train at Andrew Station in South Boston, the Globe reported.

Following an investigation, transit police detectives and officers with the agency’s criminal investigation unit arrested a teen on Monday at Forest Hills Station. He is charged with unarmed assault with intent to rob and assault for the purpose of intimidation, according to police.

Sullivan did not immediately respond to an email Tuesday morning asking whether the teen will be charged as a juvenile or an adult. 

Transit police said their investigation into the incident is ongoing.