MIAMI (WSVN) - Some MetroMover passengers said they don’t feel safe riding the trains because of two recent brutal attacks. The City of Miami hopes that a crime crackdown will change that, as they have installed extra security at the MetroMover stations.
More security and police officers didn’t convince Jimmy Danford to ride the train Tuesday.
“I was definitely worried. I walked instead of taking the Mover. It’s terrible, what happened to those two people,” he said.
Two people were attacked during two separate rides, and two different perpetrators were arrested for the brutal beatings on the trains in less than a month.
“That ain’t right. That can’t be happening out here, you know?” Danford said.
In the most recent case, police arrested Robert Lee Ribbs, who was accused of beating up 73-year-old Eduardo Fernandez.
“They catch this animal who beat up my father,” Cristian Fernandez said.
Ribbs appeared in court Tuesday where he was charged with strongarm robbery, aggravated battery causing great bodily harm and battery on a person age 65 or older.
His arrest reports stated that he told officers as they took him in, “Hey, man, I know what this is about. The old man called me a [expletive] and said [expletive] Black Lives Matter. He deserved it!”
“The authorities have to make it more secure in those places,” Cristian said.
In another attack, detectives locked up Joshua James King, linking him to the first victim’s case, calling her a random target.
Random or not, the surveillance video of a woman taking punches and an older man’s severe injuries were too much for Danford. It swayed him to stay off the train for the next couple of days.
“I just didn’t want to get into it. I didn’t want to risk being asked to get into it with anybody,” he said.
It’s unclear how long the increased patrols will be at the MetroMover stations.
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