MARTA police have arrested two brothers and a juvenile in the April 16 assault of two Delta flight attendants who were en route to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
Siblings Zantavious Sanchez Scott, 20, and Jarquez Scott, 19, of Atlanta, are being held at the Fulton County Jail, charged with aggravated assault, aggravated battery and robbery by force, MARTA Police Chief Wanda Dunham said. A 16-year-old male, whose name is being withheld because of his age, faces the same charges. The Scott brothers were denied bond at court appearances Wednesday.
Additional arrests may be forthcoming, MARTA spokesman Lyle Harris said. Investigators have obtained warrants for two other males, ages 19 and 14.
"We are continuing our investigation into this unprovoked and senseless act," Dunham said. "We advise anyone who may have been involved to turn themselves in. We intend to find you and will prosecute you to the full extent of the law."
MARTA now says the horde of young people suspected in the attacks had been attending a party at a club near downtown. Officials would not say whether the group was gang-affiliated. Witnesses to the April 16 assault said they heard the youths chant "BFPL," an acronym shared by a notorious Atlanta gang, "Bank First, Play Later."
Atlanta police had broken up the party and the suspects proceeded to board a MARTA train a few blocks away at the Garnett station, Harris said.
Once aboard the rail car, several of the youths physically confronted two male flight attendants, stealing one's wallet. Neither victim was seriously injured.
Parker Stanea, 28, told officers a diminutive teen, no taller than 5-foot-4 and wearing a pink shirt, hit him with a soda can over the left eye. Stanea said the youths then pushed him to the ground and stole his wallet.
Speaking publicly for first time about the assault, Stanea, whose comments were supplied by MARTA, said news accounts exaggerated the severity of the incident.
"For some reason, the media made this out to be like it was a horror movie, but it wasn’t," he said. Stanea, who also disputed one passenger's claim that the rail car's doors didn't open at a stop following the attack, did not return calls seeking comment.
The transit authority has aggressively defended its safety record amid increasing concerns over the brazen aspect of some recent crimes connected to MARTA.
A 14-year-old was among two victims killed in separate incidents this January at the Five Points station. Another teen was shot to death in March 2010 at the East Point station while resisting an attempt to steal his cellphone.
Numbers supplied by MARTA to the FBI show serious crimes and larcenies trending down, from 877 in fiscal year 2000 to 418 in fiscal 2010. However, last year’s trend line still showed an uptick in crime for each quarter.
The AJC recently interviewed more than a dozen regular MARTA riders, several of whom said they had either been a victim of crime or witnessed one taking place. Most agreed the transit line needs a more robust police presence.
But MARTA remains adamant the transit system is, in the words of spokesman Harris, "extremely safe and secure." They quote Stanea saying he's "never felt unsafe on MARTA. I’ve ridden it before and I will ride it again in the future. Actually, I rode it after this happened."
--Staff writer Steve Visser contributed to this article.
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