Prosecutors: Teens Celebrated after Robbery, Assault on Train

BOSTON, Oct. 24, 2012—Six teens, including three juveniles, were arraigned today on charges that they attacked a woman on an orange line train and stole her cell phone before celebrating their alleged crime with high-fives, District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

DEMARIO BARBER (D.O.B. 11/1/94) of Mattapan, KERNISHA SMITH (D.O.B. 9/10/94) of Dorchester, and ERIC THOMPSON (D.O.B. 9/16/94) of Dorchester were arraigned in Boston Municipal Court, while three juvenile defendants faced arraignment in Boston Juvenile Court for the attack on board an Orange Line train yesterday.

Assistant District Attorney Nicholas Ogden requested bail for Barber, Smith and Thompson be set at $2,000. Judge Sally A. Kelly set bail for Barber at $5,000 and ordered him to stay away from the victim. Barber’s bail was revoked on an unrelated assault and battery case out of East Boston. Smith and Thompson each had bail set at $2,000 and were ordered to stay away from the victim.

Assistant District Attorney Brooke Watson requested bail for a 16-year-old female defendant and a 15-year-old male defendant be set at $10,000 each. Judge Paul D. Lewis instead released the teens to their parents with orders to stay away from the victim, a witness, and the MBTA unless in the presence of a parent or commuting to school. Lewis continued the arraignment of a fourth juvenile arrested in relation to the case. All of the juvenile defendants are due back in court on Nov. 1.

According to prosecutors, the teens attacked a 34-year-old Boston woman aboard a southbound Orange Line train as it neared the Tufts Medical Center MBTA station. The teens allegedly grabbed the woman’s hair and slammed her face into a metal railing as they pried a cell phone from her hand before fleeing as the train pulled into the station.

An MBTA employee observed the teens high-fiving after exiting the station but was unable to catch up to the group, prosecutors said. An MBTA Transit Police officer spotted them a short time later, however, and recognized their clothing from a broadcast of the suspects’ descriptions. As a result, Smith, Barber, and the juvenile defendants were arrested near the intersection of Washington Street and Union Park.

Thompson arrived at Transit Police headquarters with another group of teens in an attempt to post bail for the arrested youths, prosecutors said. He was recognized by an officer based on surveillance images from Tufts Medical Center station, in which he was seen wearing the same sweatshirt that he wore to the police station, prosecutors said. Thompson was arrested in the station’s lobby.

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All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.