Thieves on the T

Yesterday as I got off at Stonybrook, Noah, causing a ruckus, unstrapped and trying to crawl all over Jonah while I slowly pushed the stroller along, holding him and trying to get him to sit down, I saw a kid in red pants (kid as in teens or twenties) acting weird. Moving around a lot. At first I thought he was flashing someone else. Then he suddenly tried to hide behind one of the signs, like the pole. This was very cartoonish because it doesn't cover your whole body. Slowly I pushed passed him and then saw a woman and a man walking towards me. The man said to the woman, "Someone stole your phone and they ran down here? Okay I see him, it's a kid."
At this point I am past the kid, mr. red pamts, and am putting it together that he stole the phone and is not pretending to hide, but actually trying to hide... behind a pole. The woman flips out, "You have to fight him and get it back."
"No, no Miss" the man tried to get in front of her, "Listen we'll stop the train and they'll call the police-"
"No, don't you understand! He stole my phone, we have to get it back, he stole my phone not yours-"
"Miss it's not worth fighting over," said the man as he tried to stop her and she tried to push past him basically risking her life and his to do so because she almost went onto the tracks. I pushed my stroller and two kids away from the people moving around. The train was coming and the man signaled to the train by waving his arms.
The plan the man had sounded good, but I wouldn't say the situation was "under control" mainly because the woman, the victim, was very adrenalized and forcing up a physical confrontation with Mr. Red Pants. Maybe he had no knife or anything, but there were several things that could go badly still.
I went over to the Emergency call box and said," Some guy stole this woman's phone."
"Are you on the Stonybrook platform?"
"Yes."
"Okay we'll send some help."
The train stopped and didn't open it's doors. I couldn't see what was happening but there was shouting. Noah was jumping up and down pushing the elevator buttons. All the action happened down the platform out of my sight. Eventually a train coming the other direction came and the train that was already there opened it's doors and let people out. Crap! Did the man's plan work? Or was Mr. Red Pants going to get on the train?
"I called TCP(?)" said the announcer from the train, "There are three police officers on their way......Wave your hands to acknowledge." I'm guessing that was to the man and that they had Mr. Red Pants. I could leave... but then another woman came over to the elevator. (Oh btw another guy with his stroller got off the elvator and went over to the situation with his kid, even though I told him something was going down. His choice) The woman pushed the emergency call button. This actually just shut it off, because I had just finished my call.
"Did you call to say that people are fighting?" she asked. I just said yes. I also overheard another group talking saying, "She needs to calm down.. there are too many people around.."
Now I would like to say that the victim the good samaritan and Mr. Red Pants were all various shades of dark. Maybe black, maybe hispanic.
The woman at the call box and the crowd I overheard were white.
I figured I should stay until the police came just to make sure the situation was not "people are fighting" and was, "A guy in red pants stole a woman's phone."
I say the police come.. finally. It felt like a while although the response time might have been considered fast. They walk down putting on sunglasses and preparing their game faces. They can't be everywhere at once, and as fast as they came, the whole incident seemed slow, and a bit absurd. I told them what I saw, and other said overhearing me, "They got him sitting on the floor.." Yep! he's a punk! he said, ' I been to jail before won't be my first time.'" since Mr. Red Pants seemed to be both under control and readily admitting his guilt I just took off. I just didn't want the Good Samaritan to have to explain himself to police.
 Noah continued jumping around and messing with Jonah the entire time. We went to the playground and eventually I saw a Transit Police van come up, the kind capable of transporting someone in the back, and drive off.  Anyway, I've been thinking about the various odd things that happened in that situation. In a way the woman was right to bring it to a fight, because otherwise she might not have gotten her phone back. It did take a while for police to get there, It took the other man and maybe others making Mr. Red pants sit down either through tackling or who knows for him to be apprehended. The police were competent, but they simple cannot be there faster. If they had already been there, Mr. Red Pants would have just not taken a phone then.
On the other hand if the woman had been stabbed or pushed onto the tracks or the Good Samaritan man been stabbed or something, well that would have been extremely stupid over a phone.
Even though I had my kids were with me I tried to do what I could, mainly because if someone tries to rob me on the T when I have my kids with me, I will definitely have to rely on others for help in some shape or form. I also thought how differently the situation was viewed by different people. Some saw an exciting story where the woman was quick and got her phone back from the punk. (These were black witnesses.)
Some saw some black people fighting, one of them being a crazy woman. (These were white witnesses)
I saw a good samaritan solve a problem with his mind, like chess, a teen/twenty something guy try to hide behind a pole when trapped at on a platform... I don't know the whole thing was weird but educational too I guess.