Mayor apologises to elderly woman who was kicked off train for singing

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez has issued an apology to 82-year-old Emma Anderson, who was kicked off a Metrorail train for singing too loudly. Anderson said she was singing religious hymns while tapping her thigh with a rolled-up piece of paper when she was approached by a security guard and asked to leave.



The entire exchange, which concludes with the guard forcefully dragging the senior citizen off the train by her bag's handle until she fell down on the Brickell station platform, was captured on another passenger's cell phone. Anderson bruised her shoulder when she fell to the ground.


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In a written statement, Gimenez expressed his regret about how the senior citizen's forced exit was handled. The mayor wrote: "We are sorry that this incident occurred and apologise to Mrs. Anderson. The situation should have been handled with more care and common sense. We have made it clear to all county employees and contractors that our patrons must be treated with dignity and respect."


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Anderson said her fall might have bruised her shoulder, but it did not dim her faith. ""Well, y'all may call it 'noise,' but wait till Jesus comes. It's going to be more noise in there," she said. Her son, Donal Anderson, said he appreciated Gimenez's apology, and hopes her ordeal serves as an opportunity for the county to consider training security guards on how to treat elderly passengers. "What I hope to come out of it is that they train security [personnel] as to how to deal with other folks, with anybody that's on the Metrorail system," he said.