Assault reported on SEPTA bus in Germantown

A Mt. Airy man reported Thursday that he was assaulted while riding on SEPTA’s Route 23 bus.

Bas Slabbers, a freelance photographer for NewsWorks, said that shortly after he boarded the bus on Gorgas Lane around 2 p.m., a woman began punching him in the face and on his head while he was looking down reading emails on his phone.

“I think she said something before she started to hit me in my face and on my head,” said Slabbers, who estimated the middle-aged black woman with square sunglasses struck him 20 times.

Describing what happened after the assault, Slabbers said, “She sits down on the back seat. I carefully approached her. I asked her if she knows me. I don’t know this woman nor do I recall meeting or seeing her before.”

Slabbers took her response of “You don’t do that to me no more” to mean it may have been a case of mistaken identity.

The unknown woman jumped off at the next stop, on Chelten Avenue and Slabbers contacted police.