Los Angeles man recalls attack and burning on Los Angeles subway – NBC Los Angeles

A Los Angeles man who nearly died in a violent attack on an LA Metro train is calling on elected officials to increase public safety and police presence throughout the transportation system.

Stan Slokosky, 72, said he was attacked on a subway train two years ago after attending a church concert in Pasadena.

“A woman sat down behind me and said, ‘You’re blocking my view.’ And I just ignored her,” Slokosky recalled, adding that the confrontation with the random passenger escalated into unimaginable violence.

“She had a canister of what investigators said was gasoline and she sprayed it on me. She had a lighter and set me on fire,” he described.

Slokosky said he spent seven weeks in the hospital and three months in a nursing home after suffering burns to his face and torso, as well as second-degree burns to his arms.

“I didn’t realize how badly I was burned at the time,” the man said.

His attacker was arrested but has yet to face trial, according to court records.

Slokosky said he didn’t need to read the latest Metro report, which finds an increase in overall crime in the subway system, to believe that riding public transit has become more dangerous than the harrowing experience two years ago.

“I think it’s worse now,” he said. “A few years ago, the only unsafe area was the so-called Blue Line, which was between Los Angeles and Long Beach.”

Slokosky, who has no other means of transportation because of his poor eyesight, said navigating the subway has become an exercise in alertness.

“I think there is a lack of police presence,” he said. “I watch how people behave. If I see someone behaving erratically, I try to get away from them.”