Cross dresser arrested for slashing SEPTA trolley operator with scissors

A man dressed as a woman was arrested early Friday for allegedly slashing a SEPTA trolley operator in the face after he refused to pay his fare, police said.

Officers responded to the Woodlawn and MacDade in Collingdale Borough shortly after midnight for a report of a stabbing. They found the operator outside of the vehicle hunched over and bleeding from the face. The operator reported that the suspect always gets off in Sharon Hill without paying. This time, the operator said, he told the man he had to pay and the man began yelling at him before he pulled out a sharp object, slashed the operator in the face and fled.

Officers found the suspect a few blocks away and took him into custody. A witness later positively identified the male as the stabbing suspect. He has been identified as Christopher Vinson, 29, from Darby Township. He is charged with simple assault, aggravated assault, possessing an instrument of crime, recklessly endangering another person, harassment and theft of services. Vinson is being held on $10,000 bail in Delaware County Prison.

SEPTA officials said the weapon turned out to be a pair of scissors. The operator was taken to Fitzgerald Mercy Hospital for a broken nose and a slash above his eye. He is expected to fully recover.