Criminals have taken over Seattle light rail trains

Taken from Wednesday’s edition of The Dori Monson Show.

I think I’ve decided on my next summer adventure series adventure. I’ve gone skydiving, bungee jumping, paragliding, driven a NASCAR, but this is the most dangerous.

I’m thinking about riding Seattle Light Rail and talking on my cell phone at the same time.

There’s an epidemic here of light rail thefts. Seattle police are currently looking for two armed robbers who opened fire after mugging several people near the Columbia City Light Rail Station on Tuesday.

Q13 just did a story on two other incidents of theft from earlier in July where thugs on the light rail snatched phones out of people’s hands and then ran off the train.

Here’s what one of the victims told Q13:

“I saw a guy getting ready to get off, but it looked as if he spotted me and decided not to get off the train. He was basically trying to shoot the breeze, trying to get a hook up. He grabbed my phone and I was trying to hold onto it because I was like oh my God I’m not letting this phone go, and then he yanked it so hard that it literally pulled me out of the chair.”

When we were talking about light rail initially, we told you this was going to be a haven for crime. It was going to be a multi-billion dollar place where criminals would be able to target people rather easily. These victims now know it’s just not safe. These guys were just violent. It’s nasty out there.

Here’s King County Sgt. DB Gates talking about these crimes:

“They understand what your MO is, when you’re texting or looking down playing games on your phone, and they’re taking advantage of that, that your attention is divided.”

I like Sgt. DB Gates with the King County Sheriff’s Department, but I didn’t like this statement:

“Everywhere in King County, getting an iPhone or a smartphone snatched out of your hands is happening more and more because people aren’t paying attention.”

No. This isn’t happening because people aren’t paying attention. This is happening because criminals have taken over the light rail train. People should be able to use their phone on a light rail train without fear of the criminal element snatching it out of their hand.

Remember, the consistent message from every politician here locally is we’ve got to get people off their cars and onto mass transit. You know what, one reason I don’t ride mass transit is because I don’t want to be out there with the criminals that you have let take over all the mass transit of the region here.

It’s out of control. Criminals have taken over the trains.

Taken from Wednesday’s edition of The Dori Monson Show.

JS