Metro is looking at ways to enforce stiffer penalties on customers who misbehave on the transit agency's buses and trains after a series of attacks on Metrobus operators — including an incident where a driver was doused in urine by a passenger.
Metro General Manager Paul Wiedefeld is looking into what other transit agencies do with their troublesome riders.
(AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
AP Photo/Cliff Owen
Amalgamated Transit Union local 689 President Jacket Jeter with First Vice President Caroll Thomas, speak to reporters at the Minnesota Avenue station Sept. 1. The gathering stemmed from an Aug. 26 incident in which 38-year-old Opal L. Brown threw a cup of urine on a Metrobus driver.
(WTOP/Rich Johnson)
WTOP/Rich Johnson
Some 20 yards from the Amalgamated Transit Union local 689 news conference, Metro Police Chief Ron Pavlik holds his own news conference Sept. 1 at the Minnesota Avenue station. The gathering stemmed from an Aug. 26 incident in which 38-year-old Opal L. Brown threw a cup of urine on a Metrobus driver.
(WTOP/Rich Johnson)
WTOP/Rich Johnson
Opal Brown (above) threw urine on a Metrobus driver.
(Courtesy Metro Police Department)
Courtesy Metro Police Department
Some possible changes could involve considering crimes that are currently misdemeanors as felonies and allowing Metro itself to ban riders.
(WTOP/Dave Dildine)
Currently, only the courts can decide whether a bad rider can be banned from the transit system. Those restrictions have been limited to specific lines for a finite period of time. Metrobus operators and their union expressed outrage after the urine attack at what they say is an inadequate punishment.
Wiedefeld and Metro Board Chairman Jack Evans — who is also a D.C. councilman — would like to see stiffer penalties.
Some possible changes could involve considering crimes that are currently misdemeanors as felonies and allowing Metro itself to ban riders.
Some, like D.C. Councilman Charles Allen, are open to the idea, but have their reservations. Allen noted his concern that it would unnecessarily punish those struggling to make ends meet.
Others feel such a crackdown would be nearly impossible logistically, because of state borders and individual local jurisdictions with their own legislative variations.
Stetson Miller is an anchor and reporter for WTOP. He has worked in TV newsrooms for the last several years in New York, Baltimore, Washington and Charleston, SC.
