Marta ain't always smarta

Bus inspector charged with kidnap of teen

By Ariel Hart
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Published on: 01/05/08

A MARTA employee is in jail on pending charges of kidnapping a 15-year-old girl on a bus.

When Jamella Duvall saw a MARTA bus approach her stop on Hollywood Road on Dec. 21, she said, it pulled over and let her on like dozens of times before.

She said she had no idea her step onto the bus would lead to a flying leap from the moving vehicle.

Dennis Sims, 48, a bus inspector, was supposed to be transporting the bus from a garage to the H.E. Holmes MARTA station for a bus swap, according to the MARTA police report. He had no authority to pick up passengers.

Sims told police that when he picked up Duvall, he told her the bus was out of service but he was going to the Holmes station and would take her.

Duvall says he never said that. In either case, MARTA spokeswoman Cara Hodgson said, he was "in clear violation" of MARTA policy and "under no circumstances" should have picked up a passenger.

On the bus, the first odd thing Duvall noticed, she said, is that Sims was wearing street clothes. She pulled out her Breeze Card and he said not to worry about the fare. Then, according to the girl's account, he passed stops where people were waiting.

Duvall said she asked why, and Sims said he couldn't pick up everybody. She asked him to stop the bus. He did not answer and instead, the bus sped up, she said. She asked again. And again. Then she looked at him.

He turned around, smiling at her, licking his lips, she said. "He was looking at me like, 'I got some meat,' " she said in an interview Friday.

He is described in police records as 6 foot 4 and 230 pounds.

"I started crying," demanding to be let off the bus, Duvall said.

She went to the rear entrance on the side of the moving bus, kicked the door off its hinges and jumped, she said, hitting her head on the sidewalk as she landed.

She said the driver stopped, got out and ran after her. A shopkeeper on Hollywood Road kept him away from her, she said.

"I felt like I had been saved," Duvall said. "He can't get to me no more."

Duvall was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, treated and released with stitches on her face, road rash on her hands and knees and headaches that continue to bother her, she said. She intends to sue MARTA for negligence, said her lawyer, Joseph Weeks.

Sims is in the Fulton County jail, according to jail records, charged with criminal trespass, false imprisonment and kidnapping. The lawyer assigned to him at the Fulton County Public Defender's Office did not respond to a phone message.

Hodgson said MARTA conducts criminal background checks on all prospective employees. She said Sims has no similar incidents on his record, but she could not answer whether his record was clean. He had worked for the agency for 22 years.

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[CarolX2]

It's sick that womyn and girls have to worry about the fear of being raped, sexually assaulted and etc everywhere they go. Also, why would MARTA send someone to transfer a bus on a route with lots of stops? That is extremely rude to the riders and that type of negligence can lead to cases like this. I hope the victim is doing better.

[HashBrown424]

Its so sad that these type of crimes are happening more often now than ever before.

[wmata2710]

yo americanrevoleve2 u not safe anywhere not in ya own home not on da bus.and aneywayz mta the is not all dat safe now wmata is pretty safe but anything can happen.

--

Sent from my Helio Ocean

[HashBrown424]

You are right! No place is safe. Thanx 4 the comment.

[Brian3219]

Did you hear about the bus driver that hit that kid. And everybody on the bus started beating him the driver up. Atlantas crazy sometimes.

[HashBrown424]

Yeah, I heard about that. I agree. Atl is getting crazy!

[DamnYou22Times]

marta don't care about nothing but their money, they don't care about nothing else, very sad story!

[ls1z28chris]

Glocks are relatively inexpensive, and if you don't have any felony convictions you can get your Georgia Firearms License and carry concealed on the train and bus. If you're too young to carry a gun, carry a blade.  I'd rather stab someone than jump from a moving vehicle.

[blacktigerwu]

they moved in next door to me

[qwandiddy]

Toledo Ohio?

[dieudonneMC]

To bad MTA isn't down here, but then they would raise prices so no one could ride. Never mind, stay in the city!

[rell419]

Our buses are called TARTA where I'm from, but besides the point something similar happened where Im from, but generally the buses are usually safe for the exceptional H.S. teens fighting every once in a while