Police Arrest Teenager with Food on Metro

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Trains don't work, people get raped, real crime occurs - kid with food gets targeted


https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/metro-transit-police-arrest-teenager-for-carrying-chips-and-lollipop-into-station/2016/10/19/1360a014-9627-11e6-bb29-bf2701dbe0a3_story.html?hpid=hp_local-news_metro-635pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory

Metro Transit Police are being criticized for excessive use of force after a video posted Tuesday showed an officer pushing and tripping a high school student, knocking her to the ground, after she refused to throw away a bag of potato chips and a lollipop.

The three-minute video, posted by a member of the District’s Black Lives Matter chapter, shows the 18-year-old in handcuffs, surrounded by three police officers, just outside the fare gates at Columbia Heights station.

Not eating on Metro is very clearly a rule. She was breaking the rule, and was belligerent with the officers when they asked her to comply.

What exactly do you propose they do?

NP. Because of racism, past and present, I would humbly suggest tailoring certain police procedures and case precedents to reflect the reality of profiling. For instance, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court recently ruled that African American men may lawfully flee from law enforcement in certain circumstances. Recognizing the inherent biases in our laws would be a good start.

The flip side of what you call racism and bias seems to be the attitude on the part of some African Americans that they don't need to obey many laws.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I told my white 15 year old who is a daily Metro rider about this story. He said, were they black or a teenager? I said both. He said whenever security is increased at Union Station for bag searches they always target teenagers and black people.

Pretty much the vast majority of people I see eating openly on the Metro are AAs. Why?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:and i don't see you folks talking about the grown ass men cussing each other about being shoved or blocking the door.
i'm talking about 3 piece suited, backpack, briefcase wearing, iphone ihaving grown ass 40 yr old men
or the grown ass men and women drinking their starbucks and 7-11 coffee
grown ass men who refuse to look up or look dead in the face of a woman but won't let her have her seat
and I'VE SEEN PLENTY OF YOUNG MEN(VERY OFTEN TEENAGE/YOUNG ADULT BLACK YOUNG MEN) offering up their seats
so you can miss me with the all black teens are delinquent and have no manners when I see the same type of behaviour from grown folks
putting a suit on it doesn't make crap a crown

Eating food attracts rodents. Carrying hot coffee (while surfing with a phone and balancing a briefcase) is a safety problem.

[Anonymous]

People may call this a 'minor offense', but as the cops have cut back enforcement on minor offenses, there's much more eating than there used to be. People play music on their phones without earphones and aggressive panhandlers in the trains have become more common. Lax enforcement begets more lawlessness and eventually criminals feel comfortable committing more serious crimes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What evidence are you all seeing? She wasn't even eating the chips. She was holding them. It's not illegal to hold food on the metro (how could it be? People use the metro to go back and forth from the grocery store, for crying out loud). Of course she was being singled out. I see frat bros eating freaking hoagies on the metro all the time, and nothing ever happens to them.

Pretty sure if these fat bros (are you in highschool/college still?) ate those hoagies in front of an officer, something would happen. When they take food onto the train and eat it while not in the presence of an officer, I'm not sure what you expect to happen or why you think those situations are comparable. It sounds like she tried to walk past an officer while eating, aka she has no street smarts. Next time wait until your on the train before eating your snacks.

Do you tell the frat bros, the hipsters and the hood rats not to eat on the Metro? But you don't want to get involved?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, I don't think this girl should be the poster girl for much of anything. I feel bad for the officers here --- I'm not sure what else they could have done (I'm open to suggestions). They asked her repeatedly to put it away; she refused; asked for her ID; she refused; asked her to sit down; she refused. Are they just supposed to walk away and not enforce the rules? Is that fair? From what I saw, I don't think they kicked her -- I think they used the approved "take down" measure, which is to put some pressure against the back of the knee so that the person has to get down. Had she just put the damn chips in her backpack, none of that would have happened.

FWIW, I've been riding metro daily for about 20 years. It is very, very rare that I see people eating on metro. (Maybe a couple times a year.) Most of the time that I see it, it is a tourist snacking on something, and I usually tell them that it is not permitted and can result in large fines if they are seen by a transit officer. The other times that I see it, it is usually a younger person eating something really messy and smelly like McDonalds or takeout food and you can tell that they absolutely know they are violating the rule and don't care.

Rats are a huge problem in this city, and I'd prefer not to have even more of them in the metro system. Plus there's nothing grosser than sitting down in a metro seat where someone spilled ketchup (other than the rats -- they are grosser). The no-eating rule is a smart rule. People should follow it.

It depends on the line. Not so much on the red, but I see lots of eating on the yellow and green lines.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand the reason for the arrest. I understand that food is technically not allowed on Metro, but what do we say about all the yuppies in Lulu Lemon with a Whole Foods bag? I see this as prejudicial enforcement.

There is no prohibition on bringing food onto Metro. You just can't openly consume it.

It makes me sad because systems in other cities have no such prohibitions and often sell food items within the stations. But Metro knew there were a lot of people living in DC who would just litter given the chance and not pick up after themselves. And the people who do that are not the Whole Foods shoppers.

I've lived in DC for 20 years. I remember that we always used to see Metro workers using floor polishing machines in the stations and the trains were clean. Now the Metro platforms look like they haven't been mopped in years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Remember the girl who was arrested over French fries like 15 years ago.

Yep. John Roberts was on the DC Circuit Court at the time & affirmed the conviction. It ended up being a big issue at his confirmation hearings. http://dcist.com/2005/07/john_roberts_an.php

Also, don't our federal appellate court have bigger issues than a misdemeanor french fry case involving a minor? Talk about prosecuratorial overreach.

Actually, isn't it stupid for some lawyer to appeal a misdemeanor conviction for french fries to the federal court of appeals??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This sticking up for the girl reminds me of this news story.

Remember when the homeowner in Miami put surveilance on her home because she was robbed multiple times and feared for her life. She also got a licenses and carries a gun for protection. Well a 17yr old came in to rob her in the middle of the night and she shot him. He died. In this news cast the family says, he was so nice, loved education, blah blah blah. Then they say you don't understand what it is like to live in the hood. How he gonna get money for clothes?"

WTH? So we are supposed to allow kids to not pay for Metro or give them the OK to rob other people's money because they are black? I mean their upbringing and thought process is unbelievable. To think they actually said that on a tv news station. That woman should have let strangers come into her house at night and rob her, possibly killing her - because they need money for clothes.

I am so done with defense rationalizations for criminals because they are black.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZGSQXmJPaQ

What in the name of al things Holy does this have to do with this case?

It has to do with the people on this post and how they are coming here to defend this "poor girl" Maybe AA teens will start off on a better foot if their AA friends and family didn't back up and rationalize every crime they have ever done and if there were consequences at home.

[Anonymous]

They ought to sentence this young lady to scrub some Metro trains and floors by hand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They ought to sentence this young lady to scrub some Metro trains and floors by hand.

No doubt that would be seen as racist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This sticking up for the girl reminds me of this news story.

Remember when the homeowner in Miami put surveilance on her home because she was robbed multiple times and feared for her life. She also got a licenses and carries a gun for protection. Well a 17yr old came in to rob her in the middle of the night and she shot him. He died. In this news cast the family says, he was so nice, loved education, blah blah blah. Then they say you don't understand what it is like to live in the hood. How he gonna get money for clothes?"

WTH? So we are supposed to allow kids to not pay for Metro or give them the OK to rob other people's money because they are black? I mean their upbringing and thought process is unbelievable. To think they actually said that on a tv news station. That woman should have let strangers come into her house at night and rob her, possibly killing her - because they need money for clothes.

I am so done with defense rationalizations for criminals because they are black.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZGSQXmJPaQ

What in the name of al things Holy does this have to do with this case?

It has to do with the people on this post and how they are coming here to defend this "poor girl" Maybe AA teens will start off on a better foot if their AA friends and family didn't back up and rationalize every crime they have ever done and if there were consequences at home.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Remember the girl who was arrested over French fries like 15 years ago.

Yep. John Roberts was on the DC Circuit Court at the time & affirmed the conviction. It ended up being a big issue at his confirmation hearings. http://dcist.com/2005/07/john_roberts_an.php

Also, don't our federal appellate court have bigger issues than a misdemeanor french fry case involving a minor? Talk about prosecuratorial overreach.

Actually, isn't it stupid for some lawyer to appeal a misdemeanor conviction for french fries to the federal court of appeals??

Why? Most people here would be moving heaven and earth (lawyering up) if they thought an erroneous misdemeanor conviction would interfere with their snowflake's admissions chances at a US News Top 25 school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are many many dcps students that travel to school in large packs. During certain times of the day you can assume an African American youth is a dcps student with about 90% surety.

Stereotypes on race aside. Normally they are pretty poorly behaved

Well, yes - most teens moving in packs are pretty poorly behaved in one way or another. A friend and I made the mistake of going to Busch Gardens on Band Day. There were hordes of teens (mostly white) that were obnoxious and loud as hell (sound familiar?). They were cursing, impolite, blocking paths so that people couldn't get by...

We laughed and reminisced about being a stupid teenager and kept moving.

I call total bullshit on this story. A bunch of lily white band kids are at Busch Gardens acting like asses? Where were their chaperones? No employees spoke to them about that behavior? That behavior elicited giggles from you and your companion??? Cool story bro. But keep running that "but white kids..." narrative, as if it will change anything in the black community or how the community is viewed.

For the record, nobody's going to simply giggle and reminisce at the sight of a bunch of black kids being loud, obnoxious, cursing and blocking paths. And with good reason too. Many will shoot you for simply "disrespecting" them. Again, I can't believe you didn't think that fantasy through a bit. I mean, the football team perhaps, but the band kids???? They are not known for being the roughest, toughest group in school--in any community, black or white.

[Anonymous]

Hey. Don't bring band kids into this...