UPDATED: 6:50 p.m., March 2, 2023
Nearly five months after his arrest, Torey Grier pleaded guilty to aggravated and simple assault charges in connection with assaulting two Philadelphia schoolgirls at SEPTA stations in separate incidents in September 2022.
A judge ordered Grier to complete the New Leash on Life program, which pairs local shelter dogs with people who are incarcerated, in hopes of not only placing the dog in a home, but also helping defendants to rehabilitate and not reoffend.
If Grier does not complete the program, he could face up to 23 months in prison.
UPDATED: 3:45 p.m., Sept. 22, 2022
SEPTA Transit Police on Thursday took into custody a 27-year-old man who is suspected of assaulting two Philadelphia schoolgirls at SEPTA stations in separate incidents in September.
SEPTA police knew who they were looking for, and SEPTA spokesman Andrew Busch says Torey Egypt Grier was arrested around noon Thursday, immediately after an arrest warrant was issued.
“We did have officers monitoring locations where we believed he may be. And then they were able to quickly make an arrest as soon as that arrest warrant was approved," he said.
"Within an hour or two, SEPTA police were able to take the suspect into custody."
Grier is charged with two counts of simple assault, in connection with unprovoked attacks on two girls on their way to school.
Original story follows
PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Police are seeking an arrest warrant for a 27-year-old man wanted for attacking two Philadelphia students at SEPTA stations. Police said the man assaulted the teenage girls in separate incidents over a five-day period earlier this month.
Both attacks happened in the morning as the girls were headed to school.
According to SEPTA Transit Police, the first incident happened Sept. 9 at the Walnut-Locust station as a 17-year-old Central High School student walked past the man.
“On video we have evidence that she passes the suspect, and completely unprovoked with no warning and no communication, the suspect grabs her … around the throat, throws her down to the ground and then departs the area,” Acting SEPTA Police Chief Charles Lawson told KYW Newsradio.
In the second attack on Sept. 13, a Masterman Laboratory and Demonstration School student, 13, was assaulted at the City Hall station as the man got off of a southbound train.
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“Immediately upon stepping off the train, again, unprovoked, no communication, began assaulting, punching a second student,” Lawson said.
Neither girl suffered serious physical injuries.
Investigators used surveillance video to track the travel pattern of the suspect and identify a person of interest.
“Hours of video work went into determining his point of origin into the SEPTA system and where he gets off at times. A pattern emerged which ultimately put us in position to stop him for positive identification,” Lawson said.
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“We had two assaults in the span of four days. It became readily apparent after the second incident that we were dealing with the same suspect.”
Lawson said both victims were Asian, but because there was no communication during the attacks, there’s no clear motive.
The students didn’t report the attacks until they got to school, so there was a delay in the police response, Lawson said.
SEPTA’s school safety plan has extra officers deployed on the Broad Street and Market-Frankford Lines during the morning and evening travel times.