
Image source: YouTube
An Atlanta man remained in jail Friday morning in connection with reports of a passenger throwing a 68-year-old man off a train at a station stop, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Loren Hooks, 43, was charged with simple battery in last Saturday afternoon's incident at the East Lake rail station, reported WAGA-TV in Atlanta, citing police for the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority. Hooks was booked into DeKalb County Jail on Thursday; his bail was $500 with $100 cash required, according to the Journal-Constitution.
A passenger shot video of the altercation, which was uploaded to YouTube. In it a visibly younger, larger man is seen pulling the elderly man from his seat, pushing him through the open train door at the station, then tossing his walker through the doors. While a pair of individuals stand up and approach the scrum, no one physically intervenes.
Before sitting back down on the train, the man is seen pointing at the door and yelling, presumably to the elderly man, "Walk your a** over there!" amid some hoots, hollers, and laughter.
The individual who posted the June 9 video noted that an "old man got on and immediately started talking very disrespectfully to those around him" and that another passenger, described as "middle-aged" man started arguing with the elderly man. The poster added that after the elderly man was pushed off the train, a friend also in the car "said she saw the old man fall."
Authorities said what's most disturbing is that no one called police, WAGA noted.
The following is WAGA's news report about the incident before Hooks' arrest: