ST. LOUIS — A MetroLink security officer punched and stomped a man on Friday evening after the man acted erratically, ran into a train, and fell down at the Forest Park-DeBaliviere train station, according to witnesses.
The incident began just before 7 p.m. Friday while the train was westbound, leaving the Central West End station and heading to the Forest Park-DeBaliviere station. Witnesses said two men on the train were passed out, and then were throwing up.
When the train arrived at the MetroLink stop north of Forest Park, several security guards were alerted to the disturbance and walked onto the train.
But one of the men suddenly got up, screaming, ran off the train and ran headfirst into the side of another MetroLink train.
The man fell again, got up and tried to put his arms around a female security guard in a bear hug fashion. She tried to push him away, and other security guards began trying to apprehend the man.
One of the security guards then began to hit the man, the witnesses said. The man was pushed or fell to the ground, and the guard stomped on the man, the witnesses said.
Video showed the guard punching the man multiple times while he was lying on the ground.
Paramedics responded to the scene, but the status of the man who was beaten was unknown Saturday afternoon.
The officer works for a subcontractor to Metro’s security firm and has been removed from duty,
“Metro Transit does not condone unprofessional and extreme actions regardless of circumstances,” said Kevin B. Scott in a statement, general manager of security at Bi-State Development, which operates MetroLink.