CTA Tattler

If that is actually true (forgive my mistrustful nature), that must have been terrifying to see. God...

It was only a matter of time. There are so many mentally ill individuals riding the CTA. He probably couldn't help himself.

Wasn't that what the initial reports said? That it had been a suicide attempt? Thought I saw that posted somewhere...

Any word on what the police activity was at Harrison last night around 5:15pm?

Dee, the only reports I ever heard/saw were about a man being "brushed back," which is a phrase I still can't stand. Someone also said it looked like the man had a seizure and fell into the train. Who knows...

I'm still waiting on a response from the CTA about the fact that we were given no direction about what to do on the train. Even a "Fuck you, lady!" letter would be better than no response at all.

I was on the train ahead of the "police activity" train and our driver said there were people either robbing/picking pockets on the train - he mentioned wallets but I couldn't make out everything he said. You know how they mumble.

I must've been on the same train as you, Dan. Whether the dude was mumbling or not, I'm just grateful he thought to inform us of the situation.

OK, I got a response from the CTA. Here's part of it:

"Although we understand the frustration of a delay at a time when so many people are entering the Loop, our first priority is to ensure the safety of all our customers. The medical problem affecting that Red Line train was actually a rare and unusual one and required the removal of power to the tracks until the situation could be safely resolved."

But that doesn't really answer my question as I wrote Customer Service that we heard the "This train is now out of service" announcement. How was it possible to say that if there was no power, CTA? And since there clearly was power, why were we not given any instructions as to what we should do?

Hello?!?

Also, is this problem really that unusual? It seems someone is trying to off him/herself every month or so.

They usually play down the suicide attempts to reduce the chance of disturbed people thinking "hey, the train! That's how I'll kill myself." Not saying it works, but that is the theory.

Besides, off-ing yourself with a train, any train, has got to be one of the most painful, traumatic ways to go. It is not instant, its crushing, tearing, pulling, ripping, and if you die, (no guarantee) you are probably more likely to die from blood loss while writhing in pain than from the initial impact.

The scary thing is that I may have seen this person before! A few months ago I was on the Red Line SB Chicago station. I noticed a man approaching the edge of the platform but didn't think anything of it. As the train got closer he was standing with his feet half off the platform! My heart was racing as I really did think he was going to jump and walked towards the entrance in case help needed to be called. However, he got out of the way just as the train rushed in the station. He got on the same car as I did and looked very distraught and was in tears.

I wanted to intervene and ask if he was alright, but did not want to make a scene. Seemed like nobody noticed except me.

Patrick! I think I know who you are talking about! A slim Black young looking man, could be in his 30's or 40's - I think I saw him on the Red Line at the Chicago Ave. stop, hanging his legs over the side of the platform. I got the vibe that he had something on his mind because he was staring at the knot of people standing some feet away from him. He seemed to be agitated to me and made me very very nervous - I had to restrain myself from begging him to get up and get his legs away from the track. I've seen kids do that to show how macho they are to their friends. Forgive me this cynical thought but later when they get their legs chopped off their mommies and daddies sue the CTA for not having restrained him at the time.

Like other people writing here, the only story I heard about this was the "brush back" story". I can see this accidently getting aired - depending on where you are standing is what you see and hear.

I'm glad he spoke up too, but it took at least 4 times of him speaking for me to even begin to grasp what was going on. Is it so much to ask for a concise explanation of why we're waiting?

Wow. So two people at least saw a man who was going to jump and didn't say anything, either before or after. What is wrong with our society?

The CTA makes way too big of a deal out of suicides and suicide attempts. Scrape the body off the tracks and get on with it. Holding up rush hour traffic to "investigate" something when we already know what happened is absurd. Quit giving these people the attention they crave.