PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — SEPTA is looking into a transit officer’s conduct after an apparent altercation between him and a civilian in Kensington.
The video of the exchange, posted to Facebook by user Jay Grant, known as ‘Opendiaryj,’ has racked up nearly 2 million views since being posted on July 20.
The 50-second clip appears to show a SEPTA police officer begin shoving a man who’s talking to him and another officer. The civilian shoves back, but five seconds in they are shoved into a man in a wheelchair, who topples over and remains on the ground for the rest of the video. The clip does not show what precipitated the shoving match.
In a statement to KYW Newsradio, SEPTA Spokesperson Andrew Busch said the incident occurred Monday afternoon at the Allegheny El stop in Kensington. Busch said SEPTA Transit Police were dealing with fare evasion. According to SEPTA, the man being pushed had been caught trailing a paying rider through a fare gate and was being escorted off the property.
Busch said no injuries were reported during the incident.
SEPTA Internal Affairs is investigating the incident. SEPTA said it will share the results once the investigation is complete.
