"The worst offenders are those eating double-decker sandwiches. The AR-15 of the sandwich world. Only law enforcement should be allowed access to double-decker sandwiches."
That guy is lucky he wasn't eating one of these babies!
Posted on 11/14/2019 8:12:05 AM PST by ObozoMustGo2012
How far would you be willing to go to reduce litter on public transportation? In the state of California, law enforcement is willing to handcuff a man for the crime of eating a sandwich.
According to KGO-TV in the Bay Area, 31-year-old Steve Foster was handcuffed and detained Monday on an open-air platform at the Pleasant Hill station in Walnut Creek, California.
A cop putting a man in handcuffs for eating a sandwich would have been business as usual, sadly — except, in the cell phone age, the whole thing was recorded and ended up inflicting a massive black eye on the Bay Area Rapid Transit public transportation system, not to mention California’s profoundly excessive nanny state laws.
In the interaction with the police officer — identified only as D. McCormick — Foster expressed disbelief that he was targeted for enforcement.
“You singled me out, out of all these people,” Foster said to McCormick.
“You’re eating. It’s against the law,” the officer replied.
”So what?” Foster responded.
There’s something called “selective enforcement,” something which our law enforcement readers will no doubt be familiar with. California’s law — which punishes people for eating on train platforms with a $250 fine or 48 hours of community service, according to the Washington Examiner — is patently ridiculous.
It’s the kind of thing that’s best ignored, the sort of thing that’s not worth a police officer’s time. At worst, it’s the kind of thing that should merit a ticket, no matter how truculent the eater in question is being.
This is California, though, so this isn’t how this ended. McCormick held Foster while another officer put him in handcuffs, in spite of protestations from bystanders. One of them pointed out that there were no signs on the platform informing commuters that eating on the platform was illegal.
All of this may be true, but we all know California needs that sweet, sweet $250.
Here’s the interaction:
WARNING: The following video contains profanity and vulgar language that some readers may find offensive. Viewer discretion is advised.
“It’s a violation of California law. I have the right to detain you,” McCormick said, “You’re going to jail.”
“For eating a f—ing sandwich?” Foster replied.
Yes, for eating a sandwich. That’s where California is right now.
“It would have been simpler if he would have come up to me and said hey, you can’t eat on BART nor on the platform. I should have been informed because I didn’t know I couldn’t eat on the platform,” Foster told KGO.
A statement from BART, however, says the officer did warn him.
“When the officer walked by again and still saw him eating, he moved forward with the process of issuing him a citation,” the statement read.
Foster said that didn’t happen.
“He never walked past me, I was at the end of the platform so it was impossible for him to walk past me. He just came straight to me from the escalator like I watched him come up the escalator and make a bee line straight to me,” Foster said.
The video was taken by Foster’s girlfriend, Nicole Hernandez.
“When he was grabbing him, like four, I don’t know if it was four or six officers who came running up about a sandwich, I was nervous,” she told KGO. “When they turned him around and grabbed him and put him in handcuffs, I was nervous.”
Foster admitted that after the officer asked for his ID and grabbed his bag, he used homophobic slurs and cursed at the officer. That’s uncalled for. But then, so is the entirety of this interaction.
The incident has now spurred protests and complaints that people of color are being targeted by law enforcement — a reaction which is predictable, given that we’re dealing with California, but which completely misses the point.
This is a law that simply shouldn’t exist in its current form.
Then again, its not like there aren’t plenty of needless laws on the books in California.
BART spokeswoman Alicia Trost said Foster “was not arrested. He was cited for eating, which is a violation of state law.”
She added that he was also handcuffed after refusing to give his name several times. This is all meant to make things sound better — and yet, the law shouldn’t exist in its current format nor should Foster have had to give his name in the first place.
BART general manager Bob Powers apologized for the interaction and, again, managed to miss the point entirely.
“The officer was doing his job but context is key,” his statement read. “Enforcement of infractions such as eating and drinking inside our paid area should not be used to prevent us from delivering on our mission to provide safe, reliable, and clean transportation. We have to read each situation and allow people to get where they are going on time and safely.”
“I’m disappointed how the situation unfolded. I apologize to Mr. Foster, our riders, employees, and the public who have had an emotional reaction to the video.”
The problem isn’t the police officer or the context of the incident.
He was, and it pains me to say this, doing his job. Perhaps he should have exercised a bit of selective enforcement, but he was still simply enforcing a law that’s already on the books.
The problem is the law that led to the man being handcuffed.
If Foster was littering, fine. There was no evidence of this.
What there’s evidence of is a law that needn’t have been enforced and a mentality toward enforcement of minor crimes in California that needs to change — like so much else in the state.
All I have to say is, thank goodness this guy wasn’t using a plastic straw.
That might have required a SWAT team.
I’m with you -— I definitely appreciate the law against criminal sandwiches.
Give it time...
The worst offenders are those eating double-decker sandwiches. The AR-15 of the sandwich world. Only law enforcement should be allowed access to double-decker sandwiches.
Thank you. If Sandwich Guy was black - Most FReepers would be singing a different tune. Praising law and order here and castigating Sandwich Guy as another Jussie Smollett who "Dindu Nuffin".
Being white evidently DOES have some privilege.
I disagree with you on this point.
It's not a stupid law or stupid rule.
The rule exists because some people use the stations and trains as personal trashcans. They drop their trash on the trains and get off at their stop or they drop their trash where they stand and then get on the train.
The trash is left behind for others to clean-up.
lawfully eat your sandwich?
No thanks. I’ll just not visit that loony bin of a state.
It hardly resembles America anymore.
Your point is well taken.
I did watch the video. But not all of it. But I do believe that part of the arrest process was taken in front of fast food sellers and vendors AT THAT VERY TRAIN PLATFORM.
Which begs the question: Why sell food that one is not allowed to eat?
I wonder if chewing gum is okay??
That guy is lucky he wasn't eating one of these babies!
I respect you a lot and hate to disagree with you but I must.
The most important point isn’t the enforcement of a sensible rule. I agree the rule is sensible.
The most important point is WHERE the rule is being enforced. In a city where major health hazard behavior is completely if you. That IS the main point.
It’s like enforcing anti-littering laws in a European city where muslims are allowed to rape non-muslims.
Yes, it’s very much like that.
I don't know. Maybe there's a designated area to eat and he stepped outside the area. Maybe he walked up to the platform where the train was going to stop and transit officer believed he was going to get on the train with the food.
I once watched a guy standing at a bus stop eating a box full of chicken wings.
When the bus arrived he dropped the box, the bones, the uneaten wings, and napkins on the sidewalk where he stood and got on the bus.
If there was a trashcan at the stop I don't believe he would have made an effort to walk over and put his trash in the can. The world is his trashcan.
Don’t disagree with me THAT much.
Because, yes. Yes I do see the irony of enforcing a law about eating a sandwich on a train platform is a big deal whereas streets full of feces is not. Who lives that way? San Franciscans, I guess.
I guess I would have more respect for Sandwich Guy if his intent was to call attention to the insane idiocy of pro-poop laws as opposed to no eating laws. Especially in a place that sold food to be eaten!
You're damned right. I ALWAYS instantly obey a sociopathic, black gloved, skinheaded, 'roided thug who has the permission of the Party to shoot me for any or no reason, just because. He will be given a couple of months of paid vacation, and a medal, for killing me.
Mad dogs on power trips must be treated with caution.
You can’t eat on BART. You cannot eat in the BART station. This has always been the case on this system.
There are signs all over the place. It is impossible to be on this system, and not know this rule.
If you violate a rule and refuse to cooperate, you will be arrested. That’s just the way the law works.
This guy made several decisions that led to him being handcuffed.
1. He chose to eat, even though it was against the rule
2. He ignored an instruction to stop.
3. He refused to produce ID or accept a citation.
If he had agreed to follow the rules at any one of these three points, this whole thing could have been avoided. But he did not, and he got what he got.
As far as the rule against eating on the BART goes, this is a necessary rule to keep the system clean. It is hard enough to maintain a system without having people dropping food and waste all over the place. Banning eating is an obvious and sensible rule.
Yes.
And I’ll give you something else:
Two different police forces:
1. out on the streets of San Francisco
2. transit police
Why should transit police be blamed for laws-not-enforced out in the city?
Yes. It was a reason to search him and check for any warrants. No doubt, he does this every day, and as long as the person "presents his papers", and has no weapons, drugs, etc, they are free to go. Sandwich guy made the mistake of thinking he was a free man.
Pretty sure a lot of Nazis used this excuse as they loaded people into boxcars.
Ironic this happened on a train platform.
Agreed . I watched the entire video the other night.
Bad law, but badly behaving citizen got a reaction I’d have given if I was in the officer’s shoes.
OTOH, the optics of this are terrible. A warning would have been preferred, but the video doesn’t record the entire incident either. But from what I saw and heard, he got what he deserved.
That boy's name was ... Gavin Newsom.
But he's getting revenge, one sandwich at at time:
Sacramento, CA — The California State legislature passed a new bill today that will phase-out all sandwich toothpicks by 2022. The bill, Senate Bill 4320.1 will require all restaurants to discontinue using “single-use toothpicks” both for sandwiches and teeth cleaning. Governor Gavin Newsom is expected to sign it into law.
Now he's forcing Californians to share toothpicks.
Maybe one of them attacked him as well.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.