Philly Subway Maniac Beats Dozing Rider With Hammer

Psycho hammers subway passenger
Posted on Tue, Sep. 9, 2008

As the SEPTA subway train rocked forward, a thirty-something guy leaned over near the doorway and gently planted a kiss on the little boy at his side.

When the train neared the Fairmount Avenue stop shortly after midnight on Thursday, the man reached out like an adoring parent and directed the 3- or 4-year-old tyke to an open seat.

Then he flew into a monstrous rage.

Without uttering a word, police said, the unidentified man whipped out a double-claw hammer and began bludgeoning a 20-year-old man who was dozing off in his seat.

For five long minutes, SEPTA surveillance cameras captured the deranged attacker - who was still on the loose late last night- digging his hammer into the man's head and neck.

Through it all, disgusted investigators said, at least 10 passengers stood by and did nothing as the random attack moved from the train to the platform, when the hammer-wielding maniac tried to push his victim down onto the train tracks.

When the beating was finished and the suspect fled with the little boy, the victim staggered back onto the train, bloodied, confused and alone, said Detective Kenneth Roach, of Central Detectives.

And even then, no one tried to help him.

Hammer-attack suspect in custody
Posted on Wed, Sep. 10, 2008

It didn't take long for Dewayne Taylor to be lulled to sleep by the rhythm of the train and the hip-hop tunes playing on his iPod.

After a long day of work at the University of Pennsylvania last Thursday, the 20-year-old lab technician didn't mind getting a little shut-eye while he rode SEPTA's Broad Street subway line home to East Germantown.

Then he felt bolts of pain explode in his skull.

When his eyes opened, Taylor said that he found a deranged man he didn't know standing over him, smashing him on the head with a ball-peen hammer.

"I thought it was possible, very possible, that he was trying to kill me," Taylor said last night.

The savage attack lasted for five minutes and ended on the Fairmount Avenue platform, when Taylor said that he fought back as the hammer-wielding psycho tried to push him down onto the rail tracks.

"I don't know how to God I got the strength, but I started to defend myself," Taylor said.

The puzzling case - which police sources described as the random work of a mentally unstable man - almost drew to a close yesterday.

The sources said that the suspect, whom they wouldn't identify - a bearded, husky, 5-foot-9 black man in his 30s - surrendered to a local mental institution in the morning.

He will be released into police custody after a psychiatric evaluation and charged with aggravated assault, attempted murder and related offenses, police sources said.

SEPTA hammer attack suspect has lengthy criminal record
Posted on Wed, Sep. 10, 2008

A man suspected of attacking a SEPTA passenger last week with a hammer aboard the Broad Street subway line has been charged with attempted murder, aggravated and simple assault and other charges.

Police this morning identified the suspect as Thomas Scantling, 26, of the 6500 block of Gratz Street in Philadelphia.

Scantling was taken into custody last night, a day after a graphic video of the beating was released by police.

The man's family called investigators after they recognized him, and his five-year-old son, in images broadcast on television, police said.

Scantling was taken into custody at a mental institution late Tuesday, said Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey said on NBC's "Today" this morning.

Ramsey this morning criticized other riders for doing nothing to stop the attack.

"They better pray they're never a victim, because if someone was attacking them that way they would certainly hope someone would step forward and help, and it starts with stepping forward and doing something yourself," Ramsey said.

Ramsey said the suspect "has a long criminal history including rape, robbery, assault, narcotics violations."

Detectives last night remained mystified at what set off the vicious attack.