Crime

Teens take over subway PA system again, hit passenger

This time the incident happened on the Orange Line.

MBTA Orange Line Train. Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff

June 2, 2022

For the third time in the span of just a week, teenage boys were arrested after they allegedly took over the PA system of an MBTA subway car, according to officials.

The two 14-year-olds are also accused of assaulting a female passenger, according to transit police.

Local

Police said in a news release that they were called to the Green Street Station on the Orange Line Wednesday at 9:54 a.m. for a report of juvenile males taking over the PA system.

The report said the boys, later identified as 14-year-olds, were using “vulgar, offensive, and sexually-charged language.”

Transit police said officers were met at the station by a woman who told them that while traveling on an Orange Line train between Jackson Square and Stony Brook Stations, the two 14-year-olds made vulgar announcements over the PA system.

When the train arrived at Green Street Station, transit police said, the woman yelled “You need to be in school!” to the 14-year-olds. The boys then hit her on the head and made sexually explicit comments toward her, according to the statement.

Transit police said they will seek charges for assault and battery and trespassing against the 14-year-olds.

This is the third time in the span of a week that there have been reports of people breaking into a subway car and taking over the PA system.

The first incident happened last week when teens broke into the middle car on the Red Line and shouted into the PA system, scaring some passengers.

The second incident happened Tuesday when, according to one Twitter user, someone took over the PA system on the Blue Line and began shouting racial slurs and other “bad language.”

The MBTA has insisted that there’s no danger to passengers when this happens, as the place from which people are taking over the PA system has no control over the train.