Posted on 10/08/2004 9:39:18 AM PDT by skyman
WASHINGTON -- A woman from Bowie, Md., who was arrested for eating a candy bar at a Metro station, had her day in court Thursday, but it was a brief visit.
Stephanie Willett claims she was frisked under her shirt, handcuffed and held for three hours after a Metro transit officer confronted her for eating a candy bar on the escalator.
Transit police claim Willett was "belligerent."
In court Thursday, Willett tried to tell a judge what happened that day, but she was cut off after a few minutes. The judge told Willett her case is over and that it ended when she posted $10 to get out of jail last July.
Willett has a year to appeal the arrest.
The incident gained worldwide attention, and goes on a list of other Metro Transit Police actions that have raised both eyebrows and questions.
In September, a transit officer reportedly forced a pregnant woman down on the floor and pushed his knee in her back, after he claimed she was talking too loud on a cell phone.
In 2002, an officer ticketed a wheelchair-bound cerebral palsy patient who the officer said cursed when he was unable to find a working elevator to exit the system.
And in 2000, an officer handcuffed a 12-year-old girl for eating a french fry on a subway platform.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbc4.com ...
Key word bolded; it beats the alternative.
At the very lest you will lose everything you own or will own including your home just to pay for lawyer fees.The life you have now will be gone forever.
Then I'll build a new one.
You will also spend some time in the shower room of a prison playing their version of "Ring around the Rosie" and guess who will be "Rosie."
Actually, prisoners tend to leave killers alone.
For heavens sakes think man!
I am thinking. I don't charge into people's personal space while screaming obscenities, because I fully understand that it might be interpreted as lethal intent. Get someone to believe that you have lethal intent, and their actions will follow that belief.
When the cop says she has to dispose of the candybar or eat it before she comes in, I would have to agree she complied with the letter of the law.
If she pissed off a Metro cop, OH WELL!
Do you also support airport security people strip searching 80 year old ladies, to confiscate their tweezers?
Why not focus on REAL THREATS, and less imaginary ones?
During my many years of driving I have been stopped a number (6-8) of times by Police. In every instance I have been polite; addressed them as Officer (Name) or Trooper (Name).
Not once have I ever got a ticket, but probably deserved one.
When very young I had a friend on a state police force. He advised me. "When stopped place your hands on the steering wheel, if at night turn on your inside lights. The officer will know you have friend in law enforcement."
If its raining I will offer to get out of my car and sit in the trooper's car. Some will let you, some will ask you to remain where you are for saftey's sake. But they will understand that you are trying to be considerate by not making them stand in foul weather will performing the initial enquiry.
I doesn't take a raving intellect to understand that our law enforcement officers face danger everyday and that they never know when approaching someone what to expect.
I have always found that when treated with respect the most stern officer will modify their attitude.
How about it you officers, ex-, retired, or not, how does a contact's behaviour effect your treatment of the contact?
The beneficial part of this is that I have had some brilliant conversations with officers who have stopped me and in one incidence made a life-long friend.
I have also always thanked them for doing their duty and that was not done from a weening point of view. Just imagine if you had their job. How would you want contacts to behave?
Agreed. I guess that it's an extension of the rest of my life, I actually do try to treat othere as I would like to be treated. That being said, I I am being an a$$hole, I WOULD like someone else to treat me accordingly, so keep that in mind.
How do you stretch a cop asking someone to comply with the Metro rules and stip searching my grandma? The DC Metro has an escalator to ride down to reach the train platforms (actually two seperate rides down depending on the train). It is not asking too much to finish eating a candy bar and disposing of the wrapper before entering the Metro escalator. Courtesy to your fellow travelers trumps your candy (or coffee drinking) when specifically asked to not eat or drink on the escalator or in the trains.
The "broken window" rule applies here: Fix the broken window right away and keep the neighborhood neat and clean and you deter further crime. In the same way, we keep the Metro free of food wrapper trash we alleviate other issues like graffiti.
So you support Metro police arresting every chewing person entering the station?
Again, I see no law that was broken.
Seems she obeyed the letter of the law, even if it pissed off a cop.
BIG DEAL.
She is not special and has no right to disobey posted rules for the Metro. I am not special either, which means I follow the posted rules. What about this is so difficult to process?
If she hadn't been defiant this whole thing would have been avoided. Finish your food before you enter the Metro.
You have to prove to me (and the judge) that she disobeyed the rules.
Looks to me like she did what was asked of her, and no more.
OK Newbie (10-4-04) do you really want define the meaning of "is" again? Did you watch too much Clinton? She was eating on the Metro escalator on her way to the train platform--there is no eating on the escalator. I am sure that the Metro police see this all day long and ask the violators to please throw out the food; however, she was defiant when asked and rebuked the police officer. She broke the Metro rules and mocked the officer. The court will hear her stupid case and waste taxpayer dollars for her to defend eating a Payday on the escalator. Why didn't she just throw it out when asked? Case closed. Community service picking up litter.
Put me on your ping list when the judge rules on whether a candy bar can be banned from the Metro station if it is already started down the digestion track.
Yep. All the accounts I've seen agree on that point, and that's why the officer was out of line on this one.
At least according to news accounts, it wasn't the eating of the last bit of the Payday candybar which got her into trouble--it was her defiant attitude and what she said to the officer that got her arrested. I agree that it seems like the officer was a tad overzealous but we weren't there to witness the altecation so the court will.
The DC Metro clearly states no food or drink. As a frequent rider she should know this.
Seems the arrest was more related to a "faulty attitude" than an actual crime.
Overzealous for sure.
An attorney in a well-known law firm in Washington, DC, had pretty much the same thing happen to him and his wife. They got nowhere in the courts.
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