Juvenile, 18-year-old charged with assaulting blind man on Metro train

WASHINGTON - Two people have been arrested for the assault of a blind man on a Metro train, police say.

Metro Transit Police say 18-year-old Darion Rivers has been charged with two counts of assault while the juvenile suspect was charged with three counts of assault. Police are withholding his name because he is a minor.

The alleged assault happened Monday morning after the victim boarded a train at the Rhode Island Avenue Metro station heading towards Shady Grove, according to the police incident report.

Police say the blind man accidentally bumped into one of the suspects as he boarded the train. The suspect allegedly responded by pushing and threatening the victim.

A witness reported to police that she intervened and attempted to defuse the situation, but the suspects cursed at her. When she tried to call police, she said the suspects tried to grab her phone. However, the woman held on to her device and called police. She was also able to record video of the altercation between the two suspects and the blind man as the train continued on to the next two stops, the police report states.

Police say things escalated when the train arrived at the NoMa-Gallaudet U station. According to witnesses, it became an all-out brawl when people tried to protect the blind man from the pushing and shoving by the suspects.

Following the assault, the suspects got off the Metro train at Union Station, police say.

The victim did not report any injuries and he did not need medical attention, according to the police report.