Video: Security guard throws 82-year-old off train for singing

A family of an 82-year-old woman who was unceremoniously hauled off a train in Miami, Florida, for singing hymns is considering legal action.

Emma Anderson's family say she was injured when a Metro-Dade transit security guard "dragged" her off the train after he asked her to stop singing.

Ms Anderson was singing spiritual songs, which the guard said was disruptive to other passengers.

According to the Daily Mail, she said: "I was beating my little beads with the bottle and I was singing a song, and he came up to me and said, 'Ma'am, you're making too much noise.'"

A passenger began recording the incident, and the video shows Ms Anderson being forcibly removed from the train.

According to ABC News, a spokesman for Miami-Dade Transit said in a statement: "The elderly passenger, Ms Anderson, who was escorted from a Metrorail train, was initially asked by a security guard to refrain from singing loudly and playing an instrument while on the train. She refused to comply."

The spokesperson said singing, dancing or playing an instrument are prohibited without a permit, adding: "Ms Anderson's singing was causing a disturbance to other passengers and impeding important train announcements from being heard. We regret that Ms Anderson had to eventually be escorted out, but regardless of age, all passengers need to abide by the rules associated with using transit."

But Emma's family say she was not "escorted". Son Kenny, 42, told ABC News: "By what we saw on the footage, she was dragged off the train. She wasn't escorted.

"She was just singing to the Lord, preaching to the Lord, and he grabbed her bag and dragged her off the train."

Kenny said the security guard pulled her bag so hard, she fell back and hurt herself, adding that hospital x-rays showed bruising to her hip and shoulder.

The family now plans legal action over Emma's injuries.

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