A contract employee working for Washington’s Metrorail system has been arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a passenger with a disability, the transit agency announced Wednesday.



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Derrick Lamont Bowen, of Washington, was arrested on sexual offense charges by the Metro Transit Police Department late Tuesday night.Bowen, 44, works for Transdev Corp., which provides services for MetroAccess, a door-to-door service for elderly or disabled people who cannot use the bus or rail systems.Metro said a witness called 911 claiming that the driver of a MetroAccess van went into the back of the vehicle, which was stopped in a church parking lot in Laurel, M.D., on Tuesday morning, and engaged in a sexual act with an adult female passenger.Metro said that the victim has an intellectual disability. No other passengers were aboard the van at the time of the alleged incident.The transit agency was able to confirm that the vehicle was in the church parking lot at the time of the 911 call using GPS data.Bowen was charged with 3rd degree sex offense, 4th degree sexual contact and 2nd degree assault, but Metro said additional charges are possible as the investigation is ongoing.

“It’s a sickening situation, particularly for the family,” said Metro General Manager Paul Wiedefeld during a press conference about track safety issues on Wednesday. “I wish this would not happen, but it did.”