New mother attacked on SEPTA platform in West Philadelphia

WEST PHILADELPHIA - October 20, 2012 (WPVI) -- Chaos broke out on a SEPTA platform in West Philadelphia Saturday night when a woman carrying an infant was attacked.

Da'Javon Harrison said she spotted a woman terrorizing another person with a child at the 60th Street Station platform of the Market-Frankford El line around 5:30 Saturday evening.

Harrison, who had her own one-month-old baby in a chest carrier, stepped in to move the young child away from the confrontation.

Then, she said, she turned to board the train. But as she did, the woman instigating trouble on the platform pulled her back by the head, leaving Harrison's baby in jeopardy.

Harrison tells Action News, "I stepped on the train and she grabs me by the back of my hair. My glasses come off. I'm being pushed, pulled. It was the scariest thing."

Harrision says that is when other riders came to her aid. Several struggled to pull the mother and son into the car, away from the attacker who was flailing with her fists.

Harrison's baby, Chase, is OK. She believes the woman who attacked her is emotionally troubled.

SEPTA investigators are looking to surveillance video to see if it can help them identify the assailant. They are also hoping to find additional witnesses to help them in their investigation.

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west philadelphia, philadelphia, assault, SEPTA, local/state

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