Charney said he was on the train, scheduling something in his phone, when one of the young men grabbed his phone and ran out. Charney wasn’t supposed to get off the train until the Hanley station, but he ran off the train, too, and chased the man.

“I was shouting, ‘Thief, thief, thief!’ trying to get the attention of the guard, and the guard wasn’t there,” Charney said. “There were at least a couple people there. The majority were bystanders. They did nothing.”

Charney said he was knocked to the ground, and someone hit him in the jaw a couple of times, stomped on his ankle and rummaged through his pants pocket to take his wallet. After the attack, one bystander offered to let Charney use a phone to call his parents.

Anyone with information about the attackers is asked to call CrimeStoppers at 866-371-8477.

Beck said three police departments — St. Louis police, St. Louis County police and the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Department — are responsible for policing MetroLink in their jurisdictions.

Metro last year asked city and county police to put more uniformed officers on MetroLink trains and help with other security initiatives, such as adding more undercover officers, Beck said. But crimes like the one on Tuesday night are uncommon, she said.

“The number of violent incidents on the Metro system is very small, especially when compared to the total number of riders using the Metro system each day,” she said. “While Metro operates a safe transit system, we are not immune to crime occurring in the region.”

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