Woman Arrested for Eating in Subway

Fox News ^ | Thursday, July 29, 2004

[Brian Mosely]

WASHINGTON — A government scientist finishing a candy bar on her way into a subway station where eating is prohibited was arrested, handcuffed and detained for three hours by transit police.

Stephanie Willett said she was eating a PayDay (search) bar on an escalator descending into a station July 16 when an officer warned her to finish it before entering the station. Both Willett and police agree that she nodded and put the last bit into her mouth before throwing the wrapper into a trash can.

Willett, a 45-year-old Environmental Protection Agency (search) scientist, told radio station WTOP that the officer then followed her into the station, one of several in downtown Washington.

"Don't you have some other crimes you have to take care of?" Willett said she told the officer.

Washington has been under heightened security because of the continuing threat of terrorism. And last week, police declared a citywide crime emergency over rising juvenile crime.

The transit police officer asked for Willett's identification, but Willett kept walking. She said she was then frisked and handcuffed.

"If she had stopped eating, it would have been the end of it and if she had just stopped for the issuance of a citation, she never would have been locked up," Transit Police Chief Polly Hanson said Thursday.

[Brian Mosely]

Meanwhile, terrorists continue to cross our southern borders..and let go for lack of jail space.

"But, your Honor...this woman was CHEWING...after I gave her a lawful order to stop!"

[RockinRight]

I thought this would be about Subway Restaurant.

[tallhappy]

"If she had stopped eating, it would have been the end of it and if she had just stopped for the issuance of a citation, she never would have been locked up," Transit Police Chief Polly Hanson said Thursday. Excerpted

Misleading headline. She was not arrested for eating but for ignoring the police after exchanging words with the officer.

[MineralMan]

How dare she chew?!? The heinous crime of eating while in a subway terminal should be punishable as a felony, of course. Feh!

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

Rules don't apply to Environmental Protection Agency
only the sheeple.

[Voltage]

How about the law against farting? If we can't stop it, then at least we can require wearing of Al Gore fart absorbing shorts to save the environment. Come to think of it there might be a market for these in New Zealand, as I recall the govt there was going to tax farmers for methane produced by sheep.

But it's all for the best.

Save the ozone hole!

[bikepacker67]

She was not arrested for eating but for ignoring the police after exchanging words with the officer.

Put Down the Payday!

Christ! Do you REALLY think the fascists were correct?

[OK]

I feel much safer now. All Americans should breathe a sigh of relief that we live in a free society where freedom is so cherished. "They hate us for our freedom."

[FormerLib]

This is just plain funny!

For those of you not in the DC area, this makes the papers every few months when someone actually gets cited for eating or drinking on the Metro.

The reason they prohibit this is to try to keep the trash on the subway cars to a minimum. The prohibition on eating, drinking, and smoking is boldly posted at every Metro entrance as well inside the cars themselves. Announcements are even broadcast in multiple languages to assist the illiterate.

Invariably, they Metro cops manage to cite someone who doesn't think the rules apply to them and we see yet another one of these whiny simpletons crying about it in the papers.

[GnuHere]

Ditto. I was hoping for a soundbit with Jared's reaction to the Subway eating.

[Mr. Mojo]

Don't you have some other crimes you have to take care of?" Willett said she told the officer.

Confronting violent criminals is dangerous business; far safer to harass candy bar-eating women.

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Obviously we need to ban candy bars, and eating.

[Larry Lucido]

Woman Arrested for Eating in Subway

Um, isn't that the idea?

[NCLaw441]

I guess it depends on what the meaning of "eating" is....

When does the process of "eating" end? Once the food is in your mouth? When swallowed? When the food reaches the stomach? What about those stray morsels of peanut that remain in your mouth? If you pick your teeth (still legal, I guess), if you dislodge a peanut remnant, are you forbidden from swallowing it? What if you throw up? Is "uneating" prohibited?

What is the reason for this ordinance? I would guess it is to keep the subways clean. If so, does chewing the last bite of a candy bar risk defiling the pristine DC subways?

I am all for law enforcement, but reason has to enter in at some point.

[JLS]

You can not seriously think the moron transit cop should have detained this woman???????? If so, you are NOT a FormerLib.

[Mr. Mojo]

The reason they prohibit this is to try to keep the trash on the subway cars to a minimum. ....... Metro cops manage to cite someone who doesn't think the rules apply to them...

But she did follow the rules. From the article: "Both Willett and police agree that she nodded and put the last bit into her mouth before throwing the wrapper into a trash can."

[Doctor Wu]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1179325/posts

Two Arrested, Pepper Sprayed Over Cell Phone in Theater

[JLS]

Exactly what I was thinking, if you have a peanut stuck in your teeth, I guess some people think dislodging and swallowing is disallowed until out of the metro????

[VisualizeSmallerGovernment]

If eating a Payday bar gets you arrested, we ought to be able to lock up Michael Moore for life.