UNION CITY (KRON) – Family and friends are now rallying to help a blind woman who says she was robbed while riding BART.
The woman says an unknown man targeted her and stole her iPhone at the 12th Street-Oakland Station Thursday afternoon.
Traumatized by this experience, she’s now getting help and using other means of transportation.
The woman says this robbery has really turned her off from taking BART.
She likes to travel and she needs some way to get around, so now to help maintain her independence, her friends and family are helping out.
30-year-old Sammy Wredberg may be blind but she’s confident and independent.
She also likes getting around.
However, a recent experience on BART has her feeling unsafe about the transit system.
“I’m very uncomfortable going on BART now because you know I didn’t feel like I was protected,” Wredberg said.
Wredberg says someone yanked her iPhone 11 out of her hands at the station and she was unable to see the suspect, she felt helpless.
“I was just standing there with the headphones in my hands and I stood up and screamed help me help me help me,” Wredberg said.
Wredberg says she was helped by people at the station but didn’t get much help or respect from BART police.
Already feeling violated, Wredberg couldn’t understand their lack of compassion.
“It causes me to have a lot of fear now and losing my confidence in my independence,” Wredberg said.
That fear is keeping Wredberg off of BART at least for now.
She’ll be using ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft to get around-but those rides can be costly.
Friends and family are now coming together to help with those expenses.
A GoFundMe page has raised thousands of dollars.
She also got a replacement for her stolen iPhone.
Wredberg tells me she did get a visit at her home from BART police.
They apologized for how this case was initially handled but reassured her that there is an investigation going on.
Wredberg says she believes more crimes like these could be prevented if there were simply more police on the trains.