MBTA Transit Police juvenile officers are reviewing a fight among teen girls on the No. 28 bus in Mattapan after rider Shawn Nelson recorded the brawl spilling into the aisle and crashing into other passengers late Wednesday afternoon, NBC10 Boston reported Friday evening.
Nelson said several teens seated toward the back of the bus began punching one another as the route moved through Mattapan. His cellphone video shows the fight moving into the aisle, with participants falling onto riders. No one was badly hurt, according to the account he shared with the station.
Witness Video and Onboard Threat Claim
Nelson told NBC10 Boston he recorded the chaos so the MBTA and authorities would see the problem. He said that when one passenger tried to intervene, a teenager made an indirect threat about calling someone to the scene. Nelson later posted the clip on social media and tagged the transit agency.
“If the MBTA or the authorities doesn’t know about this problem, how are they supposed to correct it?” Nelson asked in the interview. He added that he hoped young people would see that the behavior would not always go unchecked.
Transit Police Response
Transit police told the station their juvenile officers are looking into the incident. It was unclear from the Friday report whether anyone called MBTA Transit Police from the bus at the time. The No. 28 corridor through Mattapan is a high-ridership surface route connecting neighborhoods that rely heavily on bus service.
Agency officials have separately been highlighting safety and reliability initiatives on Boston bus corridors this month, including automated camera enforcement aimed at blocked stops and lanes. Rider-recorded fights add pressure on Transit Police and MBTA operations to show that disorder aboard crowded afternoon trips draws a response.
What Riders Should Know
Passengers who witness violence on MBTA buses are typically directed to alert the operator when safe and to contact Transit Police. Nelson’s decision to film and tag the agency ensured the Mattapan No. 28 fight reached both the public and juvenile investigators even if no immediate onboard call was confirmed.
As of Friday night’s reporting, authorities had not announced arrests or identified the teens. The case remains with Transit Police juvenile officers reviewing the Mattapan bus fight captured on Nelson’s video.
