No, I have never feared for my life.
I have feared for someone else’s life.

It was in Barcelona and I was on my way home on the Metro subway.
The car was crowded. Several of us were standing near the door.

Suddenly a youngish man started screaming at the woman standing
next to me. He was literally in her face. Screaming!

The man was Italian. I couldn’t understand what he was screaming about or why.

At the next stop the woman got off the train
just to escape his screaming, I’m sure.

The Italian thug followed her off.
He hit her in the back, sending her sprawling to the floor.

The thug didn’t stop there.
He then started stomping on her head! On her head!!

It was the most vicious act I have ever witnessed. 

I stepped off the train screaming my own self! 
“Policia! Policia!”
“Parada el tren!” 

I may not have been using the proper verb for “Stop the train”
but the engineer must have understood what I meant. 
He left the engine to see what all the screaming was about.

At the same time the attacker’s two friends stepped out and jerked the thug back onto the train.

I wanted the train stopped until the police got there to arrest the attacker.

The engineer said that it was not possible to stop the train.
He returned to the engine.
The train left with the druggy thug and his friends.

I helped the woman up off the floor.
I was surprised she wasn’t bleeding or that something wasn’t broken.

I asked her if she knew why the thug had attacked her.
She said that at the previous stop, the Italian had tossed out a soda can.
She told him that he shouldn’t have done that and then he started screaming.

I offered to accompany her to her home or to the doctor.
She insisted she had to get to her job and left.

I realized too late that she may have been in shock. How could she not be?
I regret that I did not go with her to wherever she was going.

I’ve often wondered about the Spanish woman.
I’ve often hoped the Italian thug was behind bars.

– Sue Williams