Subway Rider Busted for Selling a Token

AP via ABC News ^ | Dec 9, 2005

[ml/nj]

ATLANTA - Transit police handcuffed and cited a man who sold a $1.75 subway token to another rider who was having trouble with a token vending machine.

Transit authority spokeswoman Jocelyn Baker said Friday that the officer "acted within the law" after he spotted Donald Pirone, 42, selling the token Nov. 30 inside the West End subway station

Instead of giving Pirone a warning, the officer decided to handcuff him and give him the misdemeanor citation under a 1992 state law that bars passengers from selling Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority tokens, she said.

"What you've got to keep in mind is that fare abuse is a chronic problem," Baker said. "It costs MARTA millions of dollars every year."

Baker acknowledged that Pirone sold the token at face value and did not make a profit. But the law is the law, she said.

"There are customer service phones for people who are having trouble getting tokens out of the machine," Baker said. "The fact is, our officer acted within the law."

As for the handcuffs, Baker said the officer felt they were necessary.

"Our officers do that for their own safety," Baker said.

There was no answer Friday at a phone listed to a Donald V. Pirone in Atlanta. Pirone told WSB Radio that he was just trying to help a fellow passenger out who was having trouble with a token machine.

"I gave him a token and, I guess out of his generosity, he gave me the money for it," Pirone said. "But I didn't ask him for money."

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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[SolidSupplySide]

"What you've got to keep in mind is that fare abuse is a chronic problem," Baker said. "It costs MARTA millions of dollars every year."

I'm sure fare abuse covers many things that result in real negative consequences to MARTA. But this is not one of them.

MARTA received $1.75 per passenger. The fact that passenger B acquired his token from passenger A does not change this as long as passenger A acquired the token legally.

[sit-rep]

Sound like it should be punishable by a public flogging!!

Throw him in a stockade and pelt him with rotted fruit by golly!!

[IRememberElian]

"What you've got to keep in mind is that fare abuse is a chronic problem," Baker said. "It costs MARTA millions of dollars every year."

And MARTA cost the taxpayers BILLIONS!

[HOTTIEBOY]

"We got to nip this in the bud!"

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Gentle people sleep peaceably abed at night because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.

[microgood]

Baker acknowledged that Pirone sold the token at face value and did not make a profit. But the law is the law, she said.

What a complete and unadulterated idiot.

[ApplegateRanch]

"What you've got to keep in mind is that fare abuse is a chronic problem,"

Does this mean I'm committing "coin-box abuse" if the change machine at the laundromat isn't working, and I "sell" somebody $5 worth of quarters for a fiver?

[frogjerk]

The police become more out of control with each passing day. They used to be our friends and neighbors. They used to be the best and brightest. Now they are the worst and dumbest. They have long ago ceased to be our friends.

We are watching the dawn of the US Police State.

One jackass shouldn't put you over the edge to make you start doning the tinfoil. 37 Port Authority Police Officers and 23 NYPD officers died on 9/11 trying to save people's lives.

[joe fonebone]

now, normally i am a very resonable person, but in this case..........WHAT AN A$$HOLE!!!!!!!!!!don't these subway cops have anything better to do????

[skyman]

I feel much safer now that his dangerous criminal has been taken off the street!!!

[seacapn]

Sigh. The sad thing about incidents like this, is that they turn policemen into enemies. When you fear that the law is "out to get you" and humiliate you in public (handcuffs???) for minor infractions, you tend to avoid the law, and avoid cooperating with law enforcement officers, for fear you might "say the wrong thing" and end up in trouble.

The law is the law, but a little discretion makes the law work.

[Hank Rearden]

don't these subway cops have anything better to do????

Evidently not. And I bet they get $70,000 a year, plus lavish benefits, to not do it.

[ncountylee]

37 Port Authority Police Officers and 23 NYPD officers died on 9/11 trying to save people's lives.

These men were doing their job. Correct?

[Final Authority]

There is a simple reason for a law preventing selling of tokens outside of authorized outlets and that is that tokens are stolen by employees, sold for 25 cents on the dollar to a fence and the the fence then sells the tokens for a profit to riders. In Boston there are often pan handlers willing to sell tokens for a discount to passersby knowing they are on their way to the "T". It is no accident they have a cup full of tokens.

BTW, in my misspent youth working at an amusement park, the same scam was the major way to promote oneself and set ones own wage. All one did was to not tear ride tickets in half, save them in a safe place, deliver them to your girlfriend who worked in a ticket selling booth, and have her sell them instead of the park's tickets whereby pocketing the ill gotten gains. That is why most parks have gotten rid of the ticket and use other methods of payment.

[joe fonebone]

Like I tell my kids.......respect the police, but always remember, they are not your friends.

[Enterprise]

My nomination for Transit Police mascot.

[LearsKent]

Here' my bet: 45 minutes on the phone. Then no one shows up.

[Doctor Freeze]

Just another example of certain government employees who have no 'common sense' lobe in their brain. Gov't teachers and zero tolerance policies are another example.

[Ditto]

But the law is the law, she said.

Sure saves the effort of having to think about things.