Viral video shows man held up by chains on CTA Red Line train near Dan Ryan Expressway
A viral video shows a man on the back of a CTA Red Line train right next to the Dan Ryan Expressway, held up by only a few chains.
Anyone hoping on the CTA knows to be alert, but over the weekend, one passenger on the train left passengers, not to mention those driving along the Dan Ryan, stunned.
While some people filmed the incident, CTA said people should have called the police or alerted the train conductor when a man decided to put his life at risk. In the now viral video, he's outside the last train car. At one point, he leans on the chains, and it's the only thing holding him up as the train moves down the track.
"I think the public wants to know what's the protocol is with this? Is there a chain of command things are alerted trains are stopped. any instant reports, will solutions come because we've had a number of these outlandish behavior and it seems to be getting more common," said Joe Schwieterman, DePaul University transportation expert.
Now, the CTA calls this man's actions reckless, illegal, and potentially deadly, but the transit authority sheds light on how this man was able to get on the last cart and dangle.
In a statement, they said. "CTA works diligently to keep our riders safe, prevent injuries, and reduce delays to service, but a small number of riders make choices that threaten their well-being. It is commonly known that the doors between vehicles are for emergency use only, and this behavior is neither smart nor safe."
"The public wants to know how quickly these things can be stopped, so we don't have a death on tracks," Schwieterman said.
He said the CTA has to come up with a way, like other cities, to get real-time alerts from passengers and drivers of these dangerous acts.
"Some transit systems developed apps where people are instinctively trained to alert central command right in their car, right in the moment when things happen, and we need that kind of system in Chicago," he said.
CTA said if you see someone engaging in behavior this dangerous, call 911 or alert a CTA employee.
The transit system could not tell us if they got a 911 call, but they want people to alert them instead of filming.