A city maintenance worker has been charged with beating a teenage girl on a SEPTA trolley last week after an argument over a book bag, authorities said.
Damon Oliver, 40, surrendered to investigators at Philadelphia Police's East Detective division on Wednesday morning, Philadelphia Police tell NBC10. He is a maintenance worker with the city's Department of Parks and Recreation, officials said.
He was suspended from his job with the intent to fire him, department officials confirmed to NBC10.
Oliver was caught on surveillance video punching a 17-year-old girl named Shay in the face after an altercation on SEPTA's Route 17 trolley along Girard Avenue last Wednesday, police said.
Police and the girl said Oliver, who was sitting, was upset Shay's book bag hit him during the ride.
The teen suffered a broken nose and her eye was swollen shut.
Oliver is charged with Making Terroristic Threats, Simple Assault and Recklessly Endangering Another Person.
A spokesperson with the Department of Parks and Recreation said they were investigating and that it was too soon to say whether Oliver will be fired.
NBC10 obtained a copy of the affidavit Wednesday night which shows that police apprehended Oliver after a co-worker identified him as the man in the video.
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The co-worker picked Oliver up a few blocks away from where he left the trolley after the assault, according to the affidavit. The co-worker told police Oliver had called him claiming he needed a ride because he was forced to jump off the trolley after a group of high school students attacked him.
A day later, the co-worker saw video of the attack on YouTube and recognized Oliver, according to the affidavit.
Neighbors told NBC10 Oliver has a daughter the same age as the victim.
"A coward," Oliver's neighbor Sheila Jones said. "That's all I can say. A coward. Any man that touches a girl is a coward."
