A man accused of groping multiple women and attacking other people on CTA trains and platforms had previously been banned from the system and shouldn't have been on CTA property in the first place, and now a state lawmaker is pushing to do more to protect mass transit users.

Brii Williams might have helped police prove a pattern when she started recording after a man sat next to her last month on an otherwise empty Brown Line train, putting his leg on hers, and refusing to move to another seat.

In the video, Williams is heard saying to the man: "Do you like sitting next to me like this? Can you move over there please?"

The man says, "I know, but I'm trying to be your friend." Williams says, "Please stop touching me."

Even as he left, stepping on the Washington/Wabash platform in the Loop, he threatened to hurt her.

"I'll knock the *** outta you. Now play with me if you want to, ***** *** mother******," he said.

That video went viral, and police arrested 47-year-old Robert Cook for seven felonies: one felony count of aggravated criminal sexual abuse involving an underage victim between 13 and 17, two felony counts of criminal sexual abuse or force, and four felony aggravated battery involving a transit employee.

The CTA said they have a protocol to keep habitual offenders like Cook off of buses, trains, and platforms, pointing to 2023 legislation that allows them to take a case to an administrative judge and suspend their riding privileges on the CTA or other public transit systems.

The CTA has used the process 30 times, with 11 active bans, but Cook is already on that list – already banned at the time the video was taken over previous incidents in which he was accused of groping people or violently attacking passengers on the CTA.

Illinois state Rep. Marcus Evans (D-Chicago) said he's not surprised by what he saw on the video.

"No. This happens all the time," he said.

Evans said he's working in Springfield to change the law allowing the CTA to ban repeat offenders like Cook, because he said the current system clearly is not working.

"It's just more bureaucratic excuses, right? We're going to the judge, and the lawyer, and the blah blah blah. People don't want to hear that. Who is responsible for keeping the system safe? Right now, it's nobody," he said.

The Regional Transportation Authority has asked lawmakers like Evans for more funding, saying additional resources could "pilot a transit ambassador program, increasing the presence of non-police personnel who assist riders and help de-escalate situations."

Evans said that doesn't go far enough. He said he'd like to see transit police acting as a crime deterrent and an immediate resource when incidents like Williams' happen again.

The CTA said it believes Chicago police are responsible for enforcing the ban, and keeping prohibited riders off trains and buses. Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment on their role in enforcing such bans.