A lesbian was recently attacked in two separate incidents on the city’s public-transit system.
Christina Molieri said she was attacked March 28 and April 2, while on her way to work. She is unsure whether her sexual orientation had anything to do with the incidents.
Molieri, who works as a therapist in East Oak Lane, suffered possible rib fractures, contusions, abrasions, a lower-back sprain and musculo-skeletal damage, among other injuries, in the two attacks.
The first occurred around 8:30 a.m. March 28, shortly after she exited the Route 15 bus at Broad Street and Girard Avenue. While on the bus, which she has taken for about seven months from her home in the Art Museum area to the Broad Street Subway, Molieri said her bag accidentally brushed against another passenger.
She said she apologized but the woman, whom she described as African-American and in her 20s or 30s, became extremely angry and repeatedly cursed at her and warned her to keep her distance. Molieri said a young man offered to switch places with her to put more space between them.
When she exited the bus and approached the steps to the subway, she saw the woman running after her.
“She was about 3 inches from my face and said, ‘Do you want to say something to me now?’ and she threw me down the steps,” Molieri said.
Molieri grabbed the handrail to keep from falling all the way down, and said the woman kicked her several times in the chest and punched her. She said the woman used antigay slurs while attacking her.
Molieri ran backward toward the subway entrance and yelled for the SEPTA attendant to call police, which she said he declined to do, before she swiped her pass through the turnstile and quickly boarded the train.
She spent several days in and out of work and the hospital seeking treatment.
Molieri took an alternate bus route to the subway April 2 but, upon exiting the subway at Allegheny to transfer to the express train, a man punched her in the back, knocking her into the traincar.
“I just stood up and looked at him like, what? I don’t understand. And he said, ‘You’re lucky I’m in a good mood because otherwise you’d be in the tracks,’” Molieri said.
Molieri called police after exiting the subway at the Olney stop. She said the man was African-American and in his 20s or 30s.
She said she had never seen him or the previous attacker before.
“I’ve been mugged before in the past but those were people who wanted something from me. These were just two people who wanted to harm me for no reason,” she said. “Maybe I was targeted in some way, but I just don’t know.”
SEPTA director of media relations Jerri Williams said the SEPTA Police report does not mention that the victim’s sexual orientation could have been a factor, and that they have not seen any trend with random attacks against LGBT victims.
“There’s absolutely no indication that this is any type of pattern,” Williams said. “We can definitely say that there has not been any kind of uptick, increase or trend.”
The incidents have influenced Molieri’s view of the transit system.
“I’ve changed my route, it’s now much longer, but I still don’t feel comfortable,” she said. “I’m always searching the train or the platform for these individuals. But I just don’t feel safe at all.”