Philadelphia, Pennsylvania’s Fiston Ngoy abused woman on SEPTA train without other riders’ intervention?

Fiston Ngoy, 35, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States was recently arrested by the Upper Darby Township Police Department. He is known to the department and the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA), according to the department’s superintendent Timothy Bernhardt.

At around 10:00 p.m. on October 13, 2021, Ngoy allegedly sat down next to a woman on a SEPTA train traveling westbound on the Market-Frankford Line toward the 69th Street Transportation Center in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. He allegedly tried to touch her a few times so she pushed back and tried to stop him.

Instead of stopping, Ngoy proceeded to rip the woman’s clothes off, according to SEPTA spokesperson Andrew Busch. There were other passengers on the train but nobody tried to stop the assault, which lasted for around 8 minutes.

A SEPTA employee got on the train, saw the attack and called 911. Upper Darby Township Police Department officer Kevin T. Knapp ran onto the train, caught Ngoy in the act and arrested him.

The woman was taken to a hospital and was able to give the authorities the details of how she was allegedly attacked by Ngoy on the SEPTA train. Bystanders on the train who did not intervene could be criminally charged if they recorded the attack, according to Upper Darby Township Police Department superintendent Timothy Bernhardt.

Pennsylvania does not have a good Samaritan law. This is why it would be very difficult to bring charges against the SEPTA passengers who witnessed the attack but did not intervene, Bernhardt explained.

“Were they watching?” CBS Philadelphia quoted Bernhardt as saying. “I don’t know. Again, we’re still going through the video but there was a lot of people, in my opinion, that should’ve intervened. Somebody should’ve done something.”

“It speaks to where we are in society,” Bernhardt continued. “Who would allow something like that to take place? So it’s troubling but again, we’re working on that and we’re trying to identify anyone that we saw coming on and off the El at that time.”

Ngoy, who is being held at a Delaware County jail, was charged with rape (forcible compulsion), rape (unconscious victim), involuntary deviate sexual intercourse (IDSI) (threat, forcible compulsion), IDSI (unconscious person), sexual assault, aggravated indecent assault without consent, aggravated indecent assault (forcible compulsion), indecent assault without consent, indecent assault (forcible compulsion), disorderly conduct (hazardous/physical offense) and harassment (subject another to physical contact). On October 14, 2021, his bail was set at $180,000.