The Mayor of Miami-Dade, Carlos Gimenez, issued an apology Thursday to an elderly woman who was forcibly removed from a Metrorail last month.
Eight two-year-old Emma Anderson was pulled from a Metrorail at Brickell station by a security guard for singing spiritual songs. She was asked by the guard to stop singing but she refused, which prompted him to tell her to leave.
According to NBC Miami, the video of the incident clearly shows the guard grabbed her and pulled her out so hard that she fell.
"We are sorry that this incident occurred and apologize to Mrs Anderson," the mayor said in a statement. "The situation should have been handled with more care and common sense."
The statement also said that the authorities are in the process of reviewing their policies and procedures to deal with the elderly people with care.
"I was beating my little beads with the bottle and I was singing a song and he came up to me said 'Ma'am, you are making too much noise.'" Anderson told Local 10. "He snatched (belongings) so hard until I fell. I fell backwards."
Anderson's son, Donald Anderson, recounted the incident as "disgusting."
"When I look at them snatching my 82-year-old mother up off that Metrorail, it's disgusting to me," he said.
Passengers on-board were shocked seeing the scuffle between the guard and the old lady.One of the passengers asked the guard's name and another person said, "That was inappropriate."
Karla Damian, Miami-Dade Transit spokesperson said in the statement that "regardless of age, all passengers need to abide by the rules associated with using transit."
