CLEVELAND, Ohio — The GCRTA system has seen three violent crimes in two months that left two people dead and one seriously hurt.
Now, transit police revealed they’re creating a ban policy and database to track people connected to crimes involving RTA.
On Feb. 9, a man was stabbed in the head on a Healthline bus on Euclid Avenue near Public Square downtown. RTA says he was released from the hospital later that morning.
RELATED: Man charged with felonious assault after stabbing on RTA Healthline bus in Downtown Cleveland
Back in December, a teenager was stabbed to death outside an East Cleveland Rapid station during a fight, which was followed by the deadly shooting days later that killed 27-year-old Benjamin McComas at the Puritas Rapid station.
RELATED: 'I couldn’t protect him': Mother of teen stabbed outside RTA station shares his story
But it was the McComas killing that Transit Police Chief Deirdre Jones says prompted immediate changes, including a ban policy, a database, and consideration for adding plainclothes officers.
Who was Benjamin McComas?
Alana Handel says McComas was a dear friend of hers who started off as her apprentice in photography.
“His photography was honest,” Handel said.
McComas was a major figure in Cleveland’s LGBTQ community.
“Yes, huge, photographed a lot of the drag shows, did drag themself worked with the various centers, and everybody knew Benjie,” Handel said.
McComas was known to be an inclusive person.
Handel says McComas would always leave you with this simple line: ‘I’m so glad that you exist.’
For Handel, the pleasure was all hers.
“I’ve never met a soul even close to who Benjie was is like they’re still here,” Handel said.
Handel last saw McComas in 2024 when she says she saw McComas panhandling near the airport.
One year later, McComas’s violent death made the headlines.
The suspect in the McComas case, Donnie Allen, is charged with aggravated murder. Transit police say Allen shot McComas on the Rapid and rifled through his pockets.
“The suspect then carried the victim or escorted the victim off the train onto the platform before fleeing the scene,” Jones said.
Allen was arrested shortly after the shooting.
How safe is the RTA?
“They should feel very confident. I get on the trains, not just in this,” Jones said.
News 5 Investigators analyzed RTA crime data. Overall, we found crime has been down in the last three years; however, robbery and felonious assault are up.
“We do see a slight uptick in some of our violent crimes,” Jones said.
Jones says that is why they created their targeted details.
Nearly 100 police officers are under her watch and patrol everywhere buses and trains go.
RTA Crisis Intervention Teams reach out to the homeless on the Rapid.
“Sometimes we’ll go down a couple of stops and get off to check a station,” Jones said.
The chief says while they’re looking at using plain clothes officers, they’ve already increased police details and expanded them to weekend days and nights.
Allen’s criminal history.
Five days before the deadly shooting, Allen was in jail, accused of breaking into a different RTA station. A judge lowered his bond, and the Bail Project paid for his release.
“I think it was the wrong chance that was given to him, and if he was still in jail Benjie would still be with us,” Handel said.
But should Allen have been able to get on the train that night?
Court and police records show he had several criminal convictions linked to RTA, a history Jones says she didn’t know about until after McComas was killed.
“What I can say to you is that Transit Police did everything we were supposed to do,” Jones said.
What’s the solution?
Jones says they’re working on a policy to ban riders, which is expected to be out later this year. No other details were given about the policy criteria and how it would be implemented.
“I can’t say that banning him from the system would have prevented him from this incident. I think had he remained in jail, it would have definitely prevented this incident,” Jones said.
Jones says the database that her detective team is developing will be a tracking system for people who’ve come in contact with her Crisis Intervention Teams and people with felony and serious misdemeanor RTA cases.
Both Allen and Deondre Bridget, the man accused in the Healthline bus stabbing, had previous charges involving RTA.
"We monitor them and check the court systems to see if this person has been released. In some cases, we may even let our operators know in case they see this person on the train, Jones said.
The chief says they would not engage the person unless a crime is being committed.
Handel doesn’t like the idea of databases.
But aside from adding more of a security presence, she isn’t sure there’s a clean solution to this.
“If they’re causing trouble, a ban could be in good order, but also, how does one enforce this. If there’s a database, I don’t know, if someone’s face is scanned and biometrics, and they just close a gate and they can’t get through how exactly will they enforce it?’ Handel said.
GCRTA told News 5 Investigators it is not ready yet to discuss policy details at this time.
RTA says the ban policy is under legal review.
