State-appointed SEPTA prosecutor finally starts prosecuting

Even as serious crime on SEPTA continues to plummet to historic lows a special prosecutor appointed by the state Attorney General has started prosecuting incidents committed on the transit system in Philadelphia Despite criticism from a few local elected representatives and a lawsuit seeking to stop his work prosecutor Michael Untermeyer has started taking control of cases that ordinarily would have been handled by the city s District Attorney Larry Krasner Lawyers in the office of the Special Prosecutor for Mass Transit have filed cases so far and are working on an additional Attorney General Dave Sunday announced Monday It s apparently the first set of cases prosecuted by the new office which was created last year under decree signed by Gov Josh Shapiro Krasner sued to block the move arguing that the law unconstitutionally infringes on residents right to elect their chief prosecutor A court ruled against him and the matter is now before the state Supreme Court Untermeyer a former assistant DA who ran for District Attorney in and Sheriff in was appointed to the special prosecutor position last June The state legislature passed and the Governor signed Act into law as a means to provide further protections for commuters who use mass transit in Philadelphia and SEPTA employees I fully intend to use this tool to work towards a safer Pennsylvania Sunday announced Michael Untermeyer broadcasted his candidacy to be Philadelphia s Sheriff during a press conference on Mar on South Broad Street Cory Sharber WHYY Krasner declined to comment Monday The AG s office highlighted one of the cases being prosecuted a stabbing on July at the Berks El station in Kensington Surveillance video shows the defendant -year-old Daniel Williams of Brookhaven on the train platform with a knife in his hand the Attorney General commented in a declaration Williams is allegedly seen approaching a -year-old man from behind stabbing him and throwing away the knife as he flees Bystanders pointed responding police officers to Williams location and he was taken into custody the announcement stated He s charged with attempted murder aggravated assault and other counts according to court records As of Monday the victim was still in critical condition More support or a power grab Act was sponsored by Sen Wayne Langerholc a Republican from Cambria County in west-central Pa who chairs the Senate Transportation Committee The committee members toured SEPTA in and Langerholc later revealed law enforcement leaders stated him Krasner s office was not following through on arrests made on the system Those arrests are generally made by SEPTA s own police force When the Senate approved the bill in May Langerholc stated the special prosecutor would address the sweeping inaction of the current Philadelphia District Attorney and ensure scofflaws will answer for their crimes since the current DA has a systemic record of failing to prosecute assaults on casualties The ordinance expires at the end of At that point the special prosecutor s office will lose its authority unless the legislature and the governor agree to renew the law Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday Campaign photo In January Krasner sued to block the law arguing it infringes on voters rights and disparately impacts non-white residents of Philadelphia the state s only majority-minority county Critics also argued that its reference to crimes within SEPTA is too vague and could be construed as covering a large portion of the city Langerhold responded that the law does not significantly reduce the DA s authority saying it adds an additional layer of safety analogous to a special task force on crime Shapiro also disagreed with Krasner s objections saying it was good to bring more law enforcement guidance to Philadelphia and SEPTA defended the law A divided Commonwealth Court ruled - against Krasner saying the measure was not unconstitutional The DA appealed to the Supreme Court which heard arguments in May but has not yet issued a ruling Crime falls by one-third and more The Attorney General s office has repeatedly declined requests by Billy Penn to interview Untermeyer In one of the sparse media interviews he s given last December he revealed he hadn t yet prosecuted anyone and he initially planned to focus on assaults and thefts not more serious crimes like homicides The revelation that the special prosecutor has now taken on multiple cases including at least one attempted murder comes as SEPTA reports continued steep declines in serious crime since it peaked during the pandemic In Part crimes like robberies assault and homicides fell from the previous year down to incidents systemwide according to SEPTA There were four homicides compared to six in and shooting incidents down from the previous year Property crimes also fell by a third Overall serious crimes dropped from in to in and in SEPTA shared last week that majority types of serious crimes continued to fall in the first half of There was a surge in robberies early in the year and one homicide has been published so far At the same time SEPTA s police force has grown to nearly officers and has increased its focus on fare evasion a major challenge for the cash-strapped transit authority and nuisance offenses They ve so far issued citations for fare evasion this year a increase over the first six months of SEPTA commented Tickets for smoking are up to and up for marijuana use to Word of the new prosecutions also comes as riders wait to hear whether SEPTA will go through with planned deep cuts in utility and major fare hikes due to a million annual deficit Legislators and Shapiro are in the midst of state budget discussions that will determine whether the state will increase its subsidy for the transit agency and prevent the cuts The post State-appointed SEPTA prosecutor certainly starts prosecuting appeared first on Billy Penn at WHYY