Passengers on board a metro Philadelphia train who filmed a man raping a stranger will not face charges for failing to intervene, prosecutors confirmed on Wednesday - despite widespread outrage at their actions.
Fiston Ngoy, a 35-year-old from the Congo who has been living illegally in the U.S. since 2015, was arrested and charged in the horrifying attack last Wednesday.
He is seen on surveillance camera footage on board a Southeastern Pennsylvania Transport Authority (SEPTA) train near the suburb of Upper Darby.
Police say that as many as 10 bystanders on the train did nothing but pull out their phones to film as Ngoy sexually assaulted the stranger shortly after 9.15pm.
The attack continued until 9.52pm, when an off-duty transit worker eventually called 911.
'It's still an open investigation, but there is no expectation at this time that we will charge passengers,' said Margie McAboy, spokeswoman for the Delaware County District Attorney's office.
District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer said prosecutors want witnesses to come forward, rather than fearing prosecution.
'Pennsylvania law does not allow for the prosecution of a passenger who may have witnessed a crime.'
Fiston Ngoy, 35, was present in the US illegally when he was charged with raping a woman on a Philadelphia train
SEPTA Transit Police Chief Thomas Nestel III, seen through window at left, stands by during a news conference regarding the horrifying sex attack on a SEPTA train last week
The assault took place in Northeast Philadelphia aboard a SEPTA train
Authorities continue to investigate the October 13 attack, where a woman was repeatedly touched and groped over the course of a 40-minute ride.
The attack continued despite her trying to push Ngoy away, according to an arrest affidavit that detailed the surveillance footage from the train.
Investigators say Ngoy ripped the woman's pants off and proceeded to rape her for somewhere between six and eight minutes before officers boarded the train and detained him.
Ngoy sat down next to the woman about a minute after he boarded the train car, shortly after 9.15pm, investigators wrote in an affidavit of probable cause for his arrest, obtained by The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Surveillance video, which police have not released, shows him forcing himself on her as she pushed him away multiple times for over 30 minutes, until he is seen ripping off her pants around 9.52pm.
Jack Stollsteimer, the district attorney, said he was not intending on prosecuting people for failing to assist the woman during the attack
Upper Darby Police Superintendent Timothy Bernhardt said that while there were multiple people on the train, it was ultimately an off-duty SEPTA employee who made the call to 911, which allowed officers to arrest Ngoy.
Bernhardt said officers responded within three minutes following the lone 911 call, which came when the SEPTA employee saw Ngoy forcefully pulling off the victim's clothes.
Police would not disclose exactly how many witnesses were there and how many filmed the scene, but it the train made 27 stops on SEPTA's busiest route in the time Ngoy assaulted the woman.
'There was a lot of people, in my opinion, that should have
