Metro rider attacked with machete at Chatsworth station is suing for not keeping area safe enough

CHATSWORTH, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- A Metro rider who was slashed across the face with a machete is recalling the horrific moment he was attacked at a Chatsworth station last month.

"I thought my face was torn off to be honest. I didn't know the degree of the injury until I was running away. I didn't know if he was going to come after me and try to kill me," said Brent Meldeau, who says he was attacked with a machete by a homeless man.

The scar on his face is barely visible now, but Meldeau says the worst scars are the ones you can't see.

The attack happened on March 2 at around 7:30 p.m. when the 53-year-old inventor was texting a friend while walking to the Chatsworth Metro station.

Out of nowhere, he was violently attacked.

"As I'm doing this, and looking up, I see a guy with his hands raised and yelling at me and going for a swing. And at that point I just kind of lunged as fast as I could to evade the strike. He caught me and hit me in the face," Meldeau said.

Meldeau said he was stunned, and dropped his phone and ran away.

"I hear him in the background say, 'You want some more.' That's when the adrenaline hits your heart and I just kinda of make a beeline to Ralphs," he said.

Meldeau and his attorney have filed a claim against the city of Los Angeles, saying that they believe that if the area around the Metro station was properly lit and equipped with more security and cameras, the attack would not have happened.

"Hopefully, this will serve as a wake up call to the city that the current status quo here is not the answer," said Cyrus Shahriari, Meldeau's attorney.

Meldeau's attorney provided a video to show how dark the station grounds are at night. Also, a homeless encampment is not far from where Meldeau was stabbed.

Although aggravated assaults on the city's Metro only accounts for 2% of the aggravated assaults city-wide, stats show that aggravated assaults are on the rise on the Metro system since 2021.

Meldeau says his attack has left him traumatized and is a cautionary tale.

"You may want to consider not using the Metro. This might happen to you," said Meldaeu.

The city has 45 days to respond to Meldaeu's claim.

A request for comment by the LAPD and Councilman John Lee, whose district the attack occurred in, has not been responded to yet.