Subway Rape Victim Comes Forward After Her Suit is Tossed
by Christina Boyle
A young woman brutally raped in a Queens subway station says her heart was broken when a judge threw out her suit against two transit workers who ignored her cries for help.
Speaking for the first time since the ruling, Maria Besedin said Thursday she never expected the toll booth clerk and train conductor who witnessed the 2005 attack to be heroes and put their own lives in danger.
But, she said, they didn't even call 911, or yell, "Stop!"
Besedin hoped to have her day in court so a jury could decide if the MTA staffers were negligent for only alerting central command.She believed her case would make the system safer for all users.
"I'm honestly still in shock," she said of Queens Supreme Court Justice Kevin Kerrigan's decision Tuesday to quash the suit.
"It's so hard for me to process this whole thing because I just really wanted everyone out there to be safe, to never have to experience anything like I did."
The petite 25-year-old was still visibly shaken by her ordeal, which happened at the 21st St. station in Hunters Point on June 7, 2005, two days before her 22nd birthday.
She said suffers flashbacks, post-traumatic stress disorder, and continues to undergo therapy and take anti-anxiety medication. She has dropped out of college and lives with her parents in Rhode Island.
"I really lost four years of my life suffering from this," she said in her lawyer's office.
It was after 2 a.m. She was writing in her journal and had headphones on when she felt a man touching her feet.
Alone in the subway car, she tried to move away, but the man, wearing a camouflage hat pulled low over his eyes, edged closer.
Besedin missed her stop but managed to bolt from the train at 21st St. She was running up the stairs when the rapist caught her from behind.
"The guy was running behind me and started pulling me down the stairs," she recalled.
"I held \[the token booth clerk's\] gaze for at least five seconds, yelling and screaming, 'Help! Help!'
"I saw him and I thought, 'Oh gosh, he's gonna see me, it's gonna be okay' and - nothing."
Besedin thought she would die on that vacant platform.
"He held me, literally by the scruff of my neck, over the train tracks at 45 degrees," she said trembling.
"I was just shaking and thinking that I was dead, I was as good as dead."
Besedin was sexually assaulted several times on the stairs and at the far end of the deserted platform. When a train pulled into the station, she again hoped her ordeal was over.
But, like toll booth worker John Koort, conductor Harmodio Cruz also only alerted a command center, Besedin said. Her suit, which also named the Transit Authority as a defendant, charged they did nothing to save her.
The judge noted Koort pressed an emergency button in his booth and ruled the men had no responsibility to intervene and were following work rules. Lawyers for the Transit Authority and the employees argued they had no idea if the rapist was armed.
Besedin spent months in "hibernation" after the attack before speaking out. She first told her story to the Daily News last October, but this is the first time she went public with her face and name.
"Yes, I do want justice," said Besedin, who still rides the subway.
As for the court system that rejected her case, she said, "It means that they don't really understand exactly what negligence is and what the impact . . . this kind of atrocious thing can have," she said.
"I'm sorry, I just don't think they get it."
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A young woman brutally raped in a Queens subway station says her heart was broken when a judge threw out her suit against two transit workers who ignored her cries for help.
Speaking for the first time since the ruling, Maria Besedin said Thursday she never expected the toll booth clerk and train conductor who witnessed the 2005 attack to be heroes and put their own lives in danger.
But, she said, they didn't even call 911, or yell, "Stop!"
Besedin hoped to have her day in court so a jury could decide if the MTA staffers were negligent for only alerting central command.She believed her case would make the system safer for all users.
"I'm honestly still in shock," she said of Queens Supreme Court Justice Kevin Kerrigan's decision Tuesday to quash the suit.
"It's so hard for me to process this whole thing because I just really wanted everyone out there to be safe, to never have to experience anything like I did."
The petite 25-year-old was still visibly shaken by her ordeal, which happened at the 21st St. station in Hunters Point on June 7, 2005, two days before her 22nd birthday.
She said suffers flashbacks, post-traumatic stress disorder, and continues to undergo therapy and take anti-anxiety medication. She has dropped out of college and lives with her parents in Rhode Island.
"I really lost four years of my life suffering from this," she said in her lawyer's office.
"Everything - my hopes and dreams to go to grad school, to write, and help others - has just been undermined by this."On the night of the attack, Besedin boarded a Queens-bound G-train in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, to visit her boyfriend.
It was after 2 a.m. She was writing in her journal and had headphones on when she felt a man touching her feet.
Alone in the subway car, she tried to move away, but the man, wearing a camouflage hat pulled low over his eyes, edged closer.
Besedin missed her stop but managed to bolt from the train at 21st St. She was running up the stairs when the rapist caught her from behind.
"The guy was running behind me and started pulling me down the stairs," she recalled.
"I held \[the token booth clerk's\] gaze for at least five seconds, yelling and screaming, 'Help! Help!'
"I saw him and I thought, 'Oh gosh, he's gonna see me, it's gonna be okay' and - nothing."
Besedin thought she would die on that vacant platform.
"He held me, literally by the scruff of my neck, over the train tracks at 45 degrees," she said trembling.
"I was just shaking and thinking that I was dead, I was as good as dead."
Besedin was sexually assaulted several times on the stairs and at the far end of the deserted platform. When a train pulled into the station, she again hoped her ordeal was over.
But, like toll booth worker John Koort, conductor Harmodio Cruz also only alerted a command center, Besedin said. Her suit, which also named the Transit Authority as a defendant, charged they did nothing to save her.
The judge noted Koort pressed an emergency button in his booth and ruled the men had no responsibility to intervene and were following work rules. Lawyers for the Transit Authority and the employees argued they had no idea if the rapist was armed.
Besedin spent months in "hibernation" after the attack before speaking out. She first told her story to the Daily News last October, but this is the first time she went public with her face and name.
"I think it was beyond negligence, it was obvious that an extremely violent crime was going on."Besedin's lawyer, Chris Seeger of the firm Seeger Weiss, says he plans to appeal within days.
"By the time somebody came, I mean, I had lost all my dignity, and it was over," she added.
"Yes, I do want justice," said Besedin, who still rides the subway.
As for the court system that rejected her case, she said, "It means that they don't really understand exactly what negligence is and what the impact . . . this kind of atrocious thing can have," she said.
"I'm sorry, I just don't think they get it."
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