A wave of terror and confusion befell a group of black men in London, England yesterday when an irate young woman named Zoe Thompson falsely accused them of sexual assault following an argument on a busy train.
One of these men was Terroll Lewis, an online fitness guru.
Today, he speaks exclusively to That Grape Juice about the train ride from hell…and how quick-thinking saved him from facing a one-way ticket to trouble.
Full story below….
Mr. Lewis was minding his own business when he overheard Zoe Thompson harassing the gentleman in the seat six rows in front of his. Stunned by her rudeness and startled by her pugnacity, he stepped in to defend the young man.
That was when this train journey took a sharp turn for the worst.
“I was on the train and overheard an argument”, he explains.
What he saw when he looked up?
I saw a white lady shouting at a young black boy who was sitting down. She was shouting the words “move, you never paid for two seats” then went on to push him and shout more abuse.
I decided to take out my phone as the women started to shout abuse at me for sitting next to the young man and telling him to ignore the situation. She was telling me to put my phone away and stop recording and that the few hundred pounds I had in my hand must have been ‘drug money’. I told her that that wasn’t nice at all and I found it very racist.
She then went on to tell me that “we (black people) always like to pull the black card”.
I was so confused because everyone on the carriage remained silent.
I told her I will show my recording to the world and that she would soon regret picking on the young man and provoking him to act out of character.
She was very rude, angry and all over the place she smelled like alcohol.
Then, she assaulted him.
She then started shouting at me….ordering me to stop filming her and then that was when she slapped the top my head and made my hat fly onto the passenger behind me. I kept my composure and made sure I didn’t fall into the trap she was trying to set . I kept calm and continued to document the scene.
Lewis then discovered that Ms. Thompson had accused him of sexual assault.
When a member of the transport staff announced: “we will not be moving because of two men on the train and they must get off” I was stunned.
No words. A member of staff then approached the train and said that there had been allegations of sexual assault.
At this point I felt sick.
He believes she fabricated the claim to punish the fitness fanatic for defending the young man she sought to intimidate.
Everyone on the carriage was in shock and they were kind enough to write their names and emails down as witnesses. The police came on the train and asked us to step out of it so that they could question us. She should not be able to make false allegations like this and get away with it! People like her make it bad for women who are really going through sexual assault.
He now intends to take the cantankerous lady to court.
I’m definitely pressing charges. False allegations of sexual assault after she assaulted me…wasting my time. It was embarrassing.
What advice he would give to someone who may find themselves in a similar scenario?
Imagine if I didn’t film? Imagine it was just she and I with no witnesses? Her false accusation would have sent the young man and I sent to prison.
People like that you ignore. You file a complaint, you win by not letting them take you out of character, you win by staying composed and not diving into the trap.
Ms. Thompson is yet to respond to publicly and, should Lewis have his way, will do little to stop his efforts to steer young boys and girls away from crime via Block Work Out…the foundation he built to offer a safe space for the most vulnerable.