More Washington Metro Stupidity
 

I could swear there was the earlier story on the Cellar about the woman arrested for eating a candy bar while entering the Metro. I couldn't find it with the search engine (candy subway metro arrested).

Anyway, the metro cops arrested and wrestled to the ground a 7-month pregnant woman who is alleged to have been yelling into her cellphone and using profanity.

Prosecutors declined to take it to trial after the woman refused to plea out and demanded a jury trial.

Woman on Cell Phone Has Charges Dropped

I don't know how abusive this woman was, but short of physically attacking a cop, can anyone justify taking down an obviously pregnant woman for allegedly being a loud potty mouth? Doesn't anyone train these cops in problem resolution? I especially like the tough talk from the union head.

I don't know if that was acknowledging the problem. Considering other notable arrests were a handicapped guy and a 12-year-old girl, I'd say these guys are pretty smart in picking their opponents.

As someone who rides Metrorail every day, I wish that the cops would enforce the law more than they currently do.

Normally when a person violates the law by eating or drinking on Metro, they are warned to stop immediately. The cops also have the authority to ticket them without a warning if they want to. But arrests are extremely rare.

With the twelve year old girl travelling home from school, department policy stated that a ticket couldn't be issued to a minor, so the officer's only option was to arrest the minor or look the other way as the law was being broken. The officer arrested the minor, brought her to the station, and called her parent. It wasn't the officer's fault. Those were the official procedures at the time. They have since been modified.

I don't know the story of the handicapped man, but the article you quote says that he received a ticket for disturbing the peace. He was not arrested. He just has to pay a fine.

With the adult who was eating in the Metro before being arrested, she became verbally abusive to the cop as the cop tried to get her to stop eating. She also continued to eat after the cop told her she was violating the law. She was arrested because of the way she dealt with the cop. She lost in court, by the way, so the cop was vindicated.

The pregnant woman who was screaming obscenities on her cell phone in the metro was clearly disturbing the peace. She was first given a warning by the cop and asked to lower her voice and stop swearing. She instead started yelling and swearing at the cop. At that point she was only guilty of disturbing the peace. After ignoring the warning, the cop had a choice of ticketing her or arresting her. The fact that she was continuing the disturb the peace, even after the cop talked to her, made her arrest almost certain. When the cop tried to cuff her, she resisited, so she got put down on the ground. That's when resisiting arrest was added to the charges. The DA supposedly dropped the case because they didn't want to spend the money on a jury trial, but it was really dropped because it was a political hot potato. I wish they hadn't dropped the case. A jury decision would tell us a lot more about who was right and who was wrong.

Maybe the cops need more training. Maybe they could have diffused these situations before arrest became the only option. I don't know. I wasn't there. Neither were you.

Glatt, I haven't been on the Metro in many years. Is it still as clean as it used to be? I was very impressed with the quality of the trains, lack of graffiti, etc.

It is still very clean. No grafitti. Some of the cars are getting really old and dingy, and the carpet needs replacing. They have been purchasing new cars to add to the system, and those are very nice, but they need a lot more.

The system as a whole is having severe financial problems, and that's causing congestion, delays, and elevator and escalator malfunctions. The Metro system is unique because it goes through two states and the District, so getting any one governmental organisation to consider it its "baby" and take care of it is very hard. Nobody wants to pay for it.

I like the Metro quite a bit better than the mass trasit system I used everyday in Atlanta: MARTA. MARTA trains were old enough that the windows were starting to get fairly heavy graffiti, the floor was scumy, and the trains were starting to develop an odd funk especially on rainy days. And MARTA never beat taking the interstate because the trains made so many stops that it took just as long as sitting in traffic.

MARTA wasn't able to sustain itself, either, which I don't fully understand. On most days during rush hour, you would end up waiting until the next train because the one you were trying board was full. Charging $1.50 per rider, I have no idea how they managed to fall into financial problems except that the bus system might have been their downfall.

One thing I loved about the DC Metro: the blinky lights on the floor that let you know when a train was coming. Those kicked ass.

Screw those cops and those laws. I'd love to get about 100 people together and all get on the train with a bunch of pizzas and eat them right in front of the cops and DARE them to try to stop us.

The trains don't get cleaned until the end of the day, which means law abiding citizens will be sitting in your grease drippings and crumbs. Your right to eat pizza stops where my right to ride on a clean train begins.

I'd love to watch you try, Radar. Unfortunately, because of that no photography rule, my nefarious master plan to take video of the whole event and sell it to the highest bidder amongst the news agencies, falls flat.

What? You can't take pictures on the metro, either? What's wrong with that? As an aside, I too, remember the metro from the old days. It was this wondrful, very clean, streamlined system. I liked those little lights, also. I also liked knowing that I was riding underneath the Potomic River. It felt like Jules Verne or something.

My guess is they wouldn't notice you video-taping them while they were trying to deal with us. There's also the whole "hidden video" thing. They've got cameras that look like buttons on your clothing.

You don't have a right to ride a "clean" train any more or less than I have a right to eat pizza. Although in the end, eating food that you obtain honestly is a right, and going through life without being bothered isn't.

I swear to god when I go to D.C. I will ride the trian and I will eat and curse, and if a cop even tries to touch me I will shove his stick straight up his ass.

Sounds like a GTG to me ... in addition to a cellar tee shirt, I'll be wearing a hat that says "innocent bystander," however.

P.S. I will not be travelling to our nation's Capitol until well after the elections.

They now have computerized signs on each platform that tell you how many minutes until the next train comes. Sometimes they are turned off, or the information is not helpful, but those signs are often a real help, especially when there are delays.

Overall, Metro is great. It's just exceeding its capacity right now, and funding is a problem. They are trying to get enough money together to add more cars to each train to reduce overcrowding.

I'm not aware of photography being illegal in Metro, but it's been a year or so since I've taken pictures down there. Early 2003 I took a few of crowded trains.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/4...60d60000001510

So does that mean you think you have a right to defecate on a train?

How does that saying go, "My rights stop, where your rights begin"? Something to that effect. I have the right to engage in any non-criminal activity I please. I can eat pizza, but I can't eat it at your desk and leave grease all over your paper work. I can listen to music on my headset, but I can't start blasting it at you top volume from my ghetto buster. That's called disturbing the peace. Everyone has the right to not be bothered by someone else's thoughtless behavior.

The right to go through life without being bothered may not be a right, but it's well within my rights to react to something that's bothering me. Make your stand all you want, just be sure you and your ilk clean up and take the trash with you when you leave. It'll make more of a point if you do the eating then leave the place as clean as it was when you got there cuz it'll show people can eat and not make the place a mess. Of course, if part of the reason IS to make a mess, then I'll be cheering the cops on.

Eating a pizza doesn't harm anyone else or endanger them, shitting it out does.

And yes, I'd make sure we left the train without leaving a mess. That's the whole point.

The "candy bar" case was one where they told the woman not to eat it, so she FINISHED it -- stuffed the rest in her mouth and threw the wrapper away. Arrest was for that universal crime, contempt of cop.

IIRC, the 12 year old was eating french fries.

I don't know about the handicapped guy.

I had an altercation with the Metro cops once, but it was because I had a (valid) ticket that wouldn't read. The person in the booth said it was no good and I'd have buy a new one and mail away for a refund. I had my beer muscles on so I refused, they held the train and called the cops. The cops tossed me out and gave me my card back, with the booth person screaming at them not to give me the card. I put the card back in and it worked that time... I'd like to think the cops then beat up the booth person for wasting their time, but they probably didn't.

If just a smidge of WMATA rubbed off on SEPTA, it would be a massive improvement for SEPTA.

As a thought, has anyone seen the commercial for J. Random CrappyMaltBeverage where they take over a subway train and throw a rave? Just because it's somewhat on topic and it seems like it'd be a fun thing to do just to screw with people a bit on their way home from work. Perhaps it'd have to be in Britain, as I've come to understand that it's perfectly legal to indulge in alcohol on public transit, and I know that you can get around distribution laws by giving out tickets and calling it a raffle with 1:1 odds. Anyone care to raise hell on the tubes with me?

Do you guys get the "flash mob" thing over there? If you're scratching your head wondering, it's where a couple of hundred people pre-organise a meeting place on the net, then all turn up at the same time. They then do something really stupid for a couple of minutes then disappear as quick as they arrived. Last month in London, it was a huge pillow fight. You could do the same on the trains with cheeseburgers or other easily hidden food.

Actually, there's this thing where people can apparently do that with cell phones. You have a group of 50, or 100 or 200 or whatever like-minded indivduals and you see something going on in the street and you message them all to come join you where the action is. I believe there were instances of this at RNC.

There was a vague attempt at flashmobbing in the Philadelphia area, but as well all know, Philadelphians are too apathetic to organize (or dis-organize, which is often the point of a flash mob).

This is the funniest thing I have seen all day.

Radar, I truly appreciate your rebellious spirit. Like it or not, we share that. The reality though, is that neither of us are badasses up against the system.
Not until the Next American Revolution anyway.

Cops have a working process that, right or wrong, gets progressively more hostile with non-compliance to their "authority" and the law. You know that.

Throw in racial differences, the situation gets worse.

I'd like to get this whole event on hidden cam from a slight distance. Sure, you'd intimidate them...well, because, you're Radar...and that would also look great as a clip.

On the other hand, when they drive your head up your own ass after non-compliance, that would be an interesting clip too.

I'm sure that the mere mention of this will produce numerous factual instances that you have used force on law enforcement and walked away unharmed and a hero.

In any case, I wish you luck and share your attitude in this circumstance.

Unfortunately, there's another side to it. While the Metro cops would certainly be able to handle Radar, they might not want to. While they have no problem arresting 12 year olds, parapalegics, and small women for infractions of the rules, they might just look the other way at a food-eating hard-cursing person who looks like they might actually put up a decent fight.

Of course, that could backfire. They've already taken some public heat for going after and taking down people like children, handicapped folks and pregnant women. Considering the press, I don't see why they wouldn't zealously taken down someone like Radar just to show they're not afraid of the able-bodied. Such a sucker might even get even more roughed up just so they can prove a point.

On my list of things to look for in the news: The pregnant lady has her baby and there's a problem with it or its stillborn and she accuses the Metro Police for injuring/killing her then unborn child.

I think Chicago PD tasered a pregnant woman recently. At her wedding.

Metro PD are going to have to work harder to top that.

That's a pretty spooky story. I don't see how the cops can come up with a legitimate reason for tasering a frightened woman who was hiding in a closet after she saw what happened to her Dad. That is sooooo wrong! :mad:

What the press reports is rarely what actually happened.

Screaming at police, running away, and hiding in a closet is battery? What the heck kind of crime is keeping a disordely house? Who gets to judge that, Martha Stewart?

Maybe cops should be wired with cameras like cop cars to help avoid the conflicting accounts.

Whenever the video evidence conflicts with the cop's story, the tape mysteriously turns up blank.

These cops are in deep shit, though. Not because they tasered a pregnant woman; cop immunity covers that easy enough. Because they picked on a guy who is a part-time state police officer.

Now that this thread has veered off to cover dangerous cops in general, I'm kind of surprised nobody has brought up 21 year old Victoria Snelgrove. Innocent Red Sox fan in the wrong place at the wrong time, shot through the eyeball with a pepper spray pellet by cops trying to disperse a crowd last week. Pellet lodged in her brain and killed her.

Pepper spray pellets should not be fired at eye level anyway, so there was very probably misuse on the part of the cops. That's assuming that pepper spray was warranted in the first place - I think that ready availablilty of "nonlethal" police weaponry likely increases the chances that the cops will resort to force.

What's wrong with tear gas for large crowds in small spaces? Aside from the actual cannisters, there's no need for projectiles of any kind. You just need to be upwind.

Yeah, but they didn't use canisters in this instance. They used pellets full of tear gas.

And I read an account of one of the people there who said the cops were giving conflicting instructions to the crowd. They were being herded in one direction by mounted officers and at the same time told to disperse by other officers. The second group of officers opened fire with pellets, but there was nowhere for the crowd to go, since they were surrounded by mounted cops. Several people were injured, and one died. Many of them were innocent bystanders just trying to get home from the game.

That seems to match the tactics (or, hopefully, lack thereof) used in New York at the convention. Is this something that is being taught by roving police trainers?

Back to the Washington Metrorail situation.

These guys need money. They have systems that are breaking down, cars with bad brakes, and undertrained new drivers. Some unknown combination of the three caused a spectacular train crash yesterday.

Let's see, we had Bush win the election, subway trains smashing into each other, the Prince George's county courthouse go up in smoke, and John Edward's wife get diagnosed with cancer, all on the same day Bush won. What was lookout123 saying about the sky not falling after the election?

This train, which was empty except for its inexperienced driver, somehow lost its brakes and rolled backwards down a hill in the tunnel, gathering speed, until it smashed into the train full of passengers waiting at the platform. Two seperate fail-safe saftey devices were supposed to stop it from rolling backwards. I guess they aren't so fail-safe.

The passengers ran screaming from the parked train just before the collision, and nobody was killed. 20 people were injured though, including the driver of the hit train. That driver probably saved the day, because he saw the train coming fast and told everyone to get off his train.

This is the picture today. The blue tarps are there to calm the passengers using the train on the opposite side. But you can see the whole mess when you enter the station and go down the escalators.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/4...fe750000001610

Tacking on "Adams Morgan" to that station was really dumb...Columbia Heights is way closer to Adams Morgan than Woodley Park.

The funny thing is, the delays and crowds on that side of the Red Line are so notorious that the regular Red Line users would hardly notice a difference. Biggest difference now is there's a great big mess sitting in the station on the other track.