Brawl On Train: Why Did 16 NJ Transit Passengers Get Ejected On St. Patrick's Day Weekend?

A brawl on a train in North Jersey proved just as exciting as a visit to a bar during St. Patrick's Day weekend for a number of revelers. The incident occurred Saturday aboard a New Jersey Transit commuter train.

Spokesman John Durso, Jr., reported that shortly after 4 p.m. Saturday, an outbound train en route to Port Jervis, N.Y., had recently departed Frank R. Lautenberg-Secaucus Junction station when a kerfuffle arose in one of the train cars.

A fistfight among 16 riders, which reportedly began as a verbal disagreement that rapidly escalated, caused the northbound train to make an unscheduled stop in Rutherford, N.J., near the Meadowlands. NJ Transit Police removed the 16 brawlers from the train and charged two of the riders with disorderly conduct. A number of the brawlers were treated for minor injuries at local hospitals.

After a 20-minute delay, the train continued northwestward. Saturday's brawl was nearly an exact duplication of an incident from St. Patrick's Day 2012, when 16 people were also removed from a NJ Transit train for brawling. Authorities say 16 people were placed under arrest for being intoxicated and brawling. A number of last year's brawlers also assaulted the train's conductor.

The prior incident led NJ Transit to revise its alcohol policy to prohibit alcohol being transported on the mass transit system over the Irish holiday weekend. There is no word whether those engaged in this year's brawl were under the influence of alcohol or the motive of the brawl.