Metro Transit video captures violent April 2019 light rail assault

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS obtained Metro Transit video which captures a brutal assault that left an unidentified 58-year-old man bleeding profusely on the floor of a Green Line car last April near the Franklin Avenue station in Minneapolis.

Tyree Walker Jr., 18, pleaded guilty to third-degree felony assault on Jan. 2 and was sentenced to six months in the Hennepin County Workhouse and three years of supervised probation.

Rose Bagguley told KSTP she witnessed the assault while riding the light rail on a business trip from Milwaukee. She said she was stunned by what happened.

"At first it was hard to figure out what was happening, and then I saw the guy punching and kneeing the victim," Bagguley said. "It was very traumatizing after you could see the man bleeding terribly, and half of the people on the train rushed to get off at that point."

Metro Transit seeks $1.3M for high-resolution light rail security cameras

Bagguley said a woman came forward and said she was a nurse and started administering first aid to the victim and police arrived at the station minutes later.

"It is something I will never forget and hope I never see again," Bagguley said. "I am a bit surprised the guy who assaulted the man only got six months in jail because it does not seem to fit how gruesome it was."

KSTP checked with staff at the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines Commission and was told the sentence falls within state-mandated guidelines.

State Rep. Jon Koznick, R-Lakeville, told KSTP the six-month sentence does not seem like justice and said he is considering authoring a bill that would prohibit people who commit a violent felony on a light-rail train or bus from ever riding public transportation in the future.

"I want to see if doing something like that is possible and check to make sure it's legal," Koznick said. "But once you do something like that, I think you forfeit your right, or opportunity, to utilize that service again."

If Walker commits another crime during his three-year probation period, he could be sent to prison for a maximum of five years.