Witness testifies in bus beating

Woman said she saw the fight but could not identify the people involved

By Annie Linskey | Sun reporter

March 8, 2008

The Hampden resident who came to the aid of a woman beaten aboard a city bus testified yesterday that she saw a group of children kicking and punching the victim but said she could not identify any of the teens accused in the case.

Joyce King told the court that she was sitting in her dining room when she heard a crash outside her house. She ran to her window and saw an MTA bus.

"I saw the back door of the bus flying open," King said. "A girl came flying out." Others followed, and King watched as a group of students beat a woman who was later identified as Sarah Kreager, 26.

King said she ran out of her house. "I started to scream, 'Get off! You are going to kill her!'" King said.

But the violence continued, even as Kreager struggled to get away, King said.

King testified that initially she thought Kreager was a boy. "I don't think of girls fighting like that ... with such brutality and viciousness," she said.

When the fighting subsided, King took the injured woman into her arms. King said that Kreager's eye looked like "it had exploded" and the victim was bleeding from wounds to the head.

Meanwhile King noticed that there were still people in the bus and that it was rocking back and forth. "It was rocking violently," she said. People emerged from the windows of the bus, she said.

"I said, 'Call the police and tell them there is a riot on the bus,'" King said.

The five defense attorneys representing the juveniles who are on trial interrupted even the most routine portions of King's testimony with objections -- at one point taking issue with the way she described the front of her house.

Master David Young, the judge, seemed to become impatient. "You keep on objecting, and I'll rule, and we'll move on," Young said.

Under cross-examination, King acknowledged that she could not identify the teenagers or place any of the accused at the scene of the fracas. She also said that police never showed her a photo array or asked her to make any identifications.

Yesterday, the court also heard testimony from Lt. Robert Rosendale, the top Maryland Transit Administration police officer to respond to the scene.

He testified that the seats on the bus had become dislodged from the fight and that bus windows had been broken open.

He said there were 20 to 25 students seated on the ground laughing and joking when he arrived.

Rosendale said that two people, Troy Ennis, the victim's boyfriend, and Danny Williams, the bus driver, identified nine children involved with the fight. At that point, he said, the laughter stopped.

Of the nine initially identified, one has pleaded "involved" -- which is the juvenile court equivalent of a guilty plea. The cases against three others have been postponed and likely will be dropped, according to court records. The five remaining juveniles were in court yesterday.

annie.linskey@baltsun.com

Sun reporter Melissa Harris contributed to this article.

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Witness testifies in bus beating

Woman said she saw the fight but could not identify the people involved

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