By City News Service
Glendale police arrested two juveniles who allegedly were involved this week in an incident that began with a fight on a Metro bus and led to the stabbing of two people.
The fight erupted at about 7:05 p.m. Monday near West Los Feliz Road and South Central Avenue. Several media reports indicated that the altercation began when three juvenile suspects tried to steal a backpack from a teenage boy.
According to Metro, the bus driver stopped the vehicle, four males exited and the scuffle continued on the street, leading to two of the four people being stabbed.
The suspects ran from the scene, but officers from the Glendale Police Department detained two of them.
The two wounded people were taken to hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries, and the other two people involved were arrested, according to Metro.
The Sheriff’s Department is handling the investigation of the stabbing, according to Glendale police.
The Glendale incident added to a recent spate of violent episodes plaguing the Metro system, a pattern that continued Thursday afternoon when, authorities said, a man fatally shot another man on a bus in Commerce. A suspect was in custody in the incident and a firearm was recovered.
Earlier Thursday, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who also serves as Metro board chair, said she ordered an “immediate surge” in public safety personnel on buses and trains to increase their visibility and deter crime.
“The spike in violent crime on Metro that we have recently seen against operators and riders has been absolutely unacceptable,’’ Bass said during a news conference.
She said that a motion that will go before the Metro board next week will “increase the daily planned deployment of public safety personnel on Metro and direct public safety personnel to be physically present on buses and trains and proactively patrol areas as well.’’
The motion will also call for establishment of a “unified command” of agencies that police the system, including Metro security, the Los Angeles and Long Beach police departments and the Sheriff’s Department.
It will also require that “cellular service is enabled and working in all underground Metro rail stations, on the platforms and during transit throughout the rail system,’’ Bass said, so that passengers can get help immediately, if necessary.
About two hours after the Glendale incident, a woman was stabbed at a Metro C (Green) Line station at South Vermont Avenue and the 105 Freeway. The victim was taken to a hospital in unknown condition, and the suspect — a man wearing black clothing — got away by boarding a westbound train, authorities said.
The recent violence affecting Metro includes the fatal stabbing of a woman aboard a train in the Studio City area last month and a series of attacks targeting bus drivers — prompting many of them to stage a “sick out” in April to demand more security.
Metro’s board of directors on April 29 approved an emergency procurement declaration to speed up acquisition and installation of protective barriers for drivers on about 2,000 buses due to the “sudden, unexpected increased severity of assaults on operators.”
The board also pushed for a review of other potential safety improvements, including an examination of measures such as securing all transit station entrances and exits, increasing security cameras on the system and making use of facial recognition technology.
First published in the May 18 print issue of the Glendale News-Press.
