Additional Sheriff's Deputies Guard Bus Terminal in Response to Seattle Teen Beating

Feb. 12, 2010 — -- In response to the brutal beating of a 15-year-old girl at a Seattle public bus terminal, the King County Sheriff's Department said it had placed sheriff's deputies at each bus stop inside the terminal.

"There have always been deputies assigned to the tunnel, but not enough for each stop. Now we have at least one on all five platforms," John Urquhart, a spokesman for the King County Sheriff's office, said.

On the evening of Jan. 28, a young woman was kicked repeatedly by another 15-year-old, but the three security guards never stepped in, even after the victim's purse was stolen, although one did call 911.

"I think there is a general feeling in Seattle that the bus tunnel isn't safe. That wasn't true before the beat down, and it isn't true now … but is important to reassure the public," Urquhart said.

Urquhart said his office had received calls from an outraged public demanding answers as to how this incident could have happened.

King County Metro Transit hired a private security company, and the company said it had standing orders to only "observe and report."

"They have policies and mission and rules about what they can and can't do," Urquhart said.

The security system is under review, and the additional force from the Sheriff's Department is only an interim solution. The private security guards will still remain in the tunnel, Urquhart said.

This is not an unusual case, according to security experts from around the county. Most private security guards under contract by cities, shopping malls and businesses work under strict rules to retreat, not to jump in, if something goes wrong.

Yet the video also shows other people standing on the platform who did not break up the teenage fight.

Urquhart said it is easy to "Monday morning quarterback" and say that you would have stopped the attack.

"Often in these situations people are just so stunned … they don't intervene," Urquhart said.

Some witnesses said they did not do anything because they mistakenly believed that the men with "Security" written across their backs would actually provide some.

The victim told Seattle investigators that she believed the three security guards who stood by and watched would protect her.

"I went to the security and told them that these kids were trying to jump me," the girl said in her statement to investigators that ABC News obtained. "I know that I am about to get jumped, and I am hanging around the guards to try and get protection."

"I thought the security guards would defend me," said the victim, whose name is being withheld because she is a minor.

Beating Caught on Tape

In the chilling surveillance video that caught the assault on tape, the victim is seen getting jumped from behind by another girl in front of the trio of uniformed guards.

As the victim falls to the curb of the Westlake Center transit terminal, she is straddled by one of her assailants and then surrounded by other teens who start robbing her of her belongings.

One security guard can be seen standing directly over the victim as she is stomped and then kicked in the head by a teenage girl.

With the three guards standing there, the teenager who'd kicked the victim in the head walked casually away.

Despite the viciousness of the attack, the victim suffered only scrapes and bruises, as well as the loss of hair from it being pulled out.

The King County Sheriff's Office and Metro Transit said they are "horrified" by the assault, and have begun an investigation of the robbery and beating as well as the contractual obligation the officers have to not become involved in altercations.

"I am appalled by the sight of uniformed guards standing by while a person was kicked and beaten," said King County Executive Dow Constantine, who ordered the review.

Beating Victim Says Seattle Police Also Ignored Pleas for Help

Metro Transit General Manager Kevin Desmond echoed Constantine: "The events surrounding this incident are troubling, and the video images distressing."

But it's not just Metro Transit that is coming under fire after the assault. The victim is also accusing Seattle police officers of not doing enough to prevent the attack from happening in the first place.

The altercation first began at approximately 7:15 p.m. on Jan. 28, inside a Macy's and then later in a Nordstrom's department store in the Westlake Center, a mall in downtown Seattle.

When an 18-year-old male member of the group got "in the face" of the 15-year-old victim and threatened to kill her, police asked the group to leave the store.

Those same officers, the victim claims, refused to escort her to the bus terminal even though she said she'd told them she feared she was about to be attacked.

"I asked them to take me to the tunnel, and they said they couldn't because they didn't have time for kids who started trouble," she said. "The same group that wanted to fight me came up to me right in front of the officers. The officers were just standing there looking around."

Sgt. Sean Whitcomb, a Seattle police spokesman, told ABC News that the officers could only do so much before a crime was actually committed, and had told the victim and her friend to go home and get away from the assailants at least two times before the attack occurred.

"The officers were aware of several verbal disturbances in the area, some of them that included this victim and the would-be assailants," said Whitcomb. "The officers separated the groups and instructed all parties to leave the area, especially making note to the victim that it would be wise to catch a bus and go home so she'd be free from any harassment."

"Ultimately, had the officers known what the outcome would be, they would have absolutely just called a cab for the victim," he said. "But when no crime has occurred, officers' abilities to take any further action are severely curtailed."

One Alleged Assailant Has Pleaded Not Guilty

During the assault, some of the assailants stole the victim's purse, book bag, cell phone and iPod, according to police.

Thursday the 15-year-old girl who is accused of the assault pleaded not guilty to attacking and robbing the victim. If she's convicted, she faces up to 2½ years in juvenile detention, according to ABC News' Seattle affiliate KOMO-TV.

Three others who have been arrested have also been charged with first-degree robbery and will be tried as adults in King County Superior Court later this month.

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