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 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 scientist, told radio station WTOP that the officer then followed her into the station, one of several in downtown Washington.
The transit police officer asked for Willett's identification, but Willett kept walking. She said she was then frisked and handcuffed.
Metrorail has been criticized in the past for heavy-handed enforcement of the eating ban. In 2000, a police officer handcuffed a 12-year-old girl for eating a french fry on a subway platform.
In 2002, one of their officers ticketed a wheelchair-bound cerebral palsy patient for cursing when he was unable to find a working elevator to leave a station. Unflattering publicity eventually led the police to void the ticket.
Woman Arrested for Eating Candy
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Woman Arrested for Eating Candy
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People being arrested for token violation of an eating ban and being ticketed for swearing? This was in China, right? Or Cuba. Gotta be Cuba. One of those evil commie states where they don't have freedom and democracy. Right?
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It's people like her that are ruining America. Such reckless disregard for the rules must be met will the full force of the law, lest the entire nation descend into anarchy.
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I hope you realise I was being sarcastic. She was told to finish it before she entered the station, she did. She just happened to be chewing the last mouthful when she got to the entrance. Unless she has some sort of serious dribbling disorder, I don't see what the problem is. Would they give out tickets for chewing gum?Roofus wrote:Agreed. But the "full force of the law" in this case should be a ticket.az_bont wrote:It's people like her that are ruining America. Such reckless disregard for the rules must be met will the full force of the law, lest the entire nation descend into anarchy.
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So what good is having rules if you don't enforce them?az_bont wrote:I hope you realise I was being sarcastic. She was told to finish it before she entered the station, she did. She just happened to be chewing the last mouthful when she got to the entrance. Unless she has some sort of serious dribbling disorder, I don't see what the problem is. Would they give out tickets for chewing gum?Roofus wrote:Agreed. But the "full force of the law" in this case should be a ticket.az_bont wrote:It's people like her that are ruining America. Such reckless disregard for the rules must be met will the full force of the law, lest the entire nation descend into anarchy.
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Roofus wrote:So what good is having rules if you don't enforce them?az_bont wrote:I hope you realise I was being sarcastic. She was told to finish it before she entered the station, she did. She just happened to be chewing the last mouthful when she got to the entrance. Unless she has some sort of serious dribbling disorder, I don't see what the problem is. Would they give out tickets for chewing gum?Roofus wrote:Agreed. But the "full force of the law" in this case should be a ticket.az_bont wrote:It's people like her that are ruining America. Such reckless disregard for the rules must be met will the full force of the law, lest the entire nation descend into anarchy.
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Hey! This sounds like my new game show idea. It's called "What's the Problem Here," and will be debuting a week after the Apocalypse. The way it works is very easy. In each round, the host (me) will present two scenarios. One is an important problem, and the other is really unimportant in the grand scheme of things. Let's try a couple of example questions to see if my game show will work, shall we?
[ROUND ONE]
[ROUND TWO]
[ROUND ONE]
Scenario One wrote: A woman is seen eating a candy bar while entering a train station.
Which is the important problem? The correct answer is "Scenario Two"Scenario Two wrote: Taxpayer money was wasted to create and enforce legislation which makes it unlawful to eat in the train station.
[ROUND TWO]
Scenario One wrote: There isn't a working elevator in the subway station, making it impossible for a man in a wheelchair to leave.
Which is the important problem?The correct answer is "Scenario One"Scenario Two wrote: The man in the wheelchair said a naughty word.
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Read more carefully. She wasn't arrested for eating candy.
She was arrested for mouthing off to a cop and not stopping when he told her to.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 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 (news - web sites) 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.
Metrorail has been criticized in the past for heavy-handed enforcement of the eating ban. In 2000, a police officer handcuffed a 12-year-old girl for eating a french fry on a subway platform.
In 2002, one of their officers ticketed a wheelchair-bound cerebral palsy patient for cursing when he was unable to find a working elevator to leave a station. Unflattering publicity eventually led the police to void the ticket.
Willett was the second person arrested this year for eating or drinking, Hanson said. In addition, police have issued 58 tickets and given more than 300 written warnings.
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The only problem is that the officer told her to finish the candy before entering the station. She shook her head yes and finished it before entering the station. Despite that, the cop still followed her. Now, she may have not stopped, but that cop had no reason to try to stop her in the first place. She did was she was told and they still went after her.Roofus wrote:Read more carefully. She wasn't arrested for eating candy.
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read the extra part in bold that roofus posted... seems the original post was missing certain details of the article that prompted the detainmentmelancholy wrote:The only problem is that the officer told her to finish the candy before entering the station. She shook her head yes and finished it before entering the station. Despite that, the cop still followed her. Now, she may have not stopped, but that cop had no reason to try to stop her in the first place. She did was she was told and they still went after her.Roofus wrote:Read more carefully. She wasn't arrested for eating candy.
a bit extreme IMO, but still there were missing details now brough to light
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You're not following me here. I'm not saying the candy was the reason (I just took the title from Yahoo word for word). But I'm saying that the cop told her to stop without a reason. She did exactly what they told her to, but they still tried to stop her. Now, you could argue that she was still chewing it when she entered the station, but I'm sure there's no sign saying "No chewing."Rev. Layle wrote:read the extra part in bold that roofus posted... seems the original post was missing certain details of the article that prompted the detainmentmelancholy wrote:The only problem is that the officer told her to finish the candy before entering the station. She shook her head yes and finished it before entering the station. Despite that, the cop still followed her. Now, she may have not stopped, but that cop had no reason to try to stop her in the first place. She did was she was told and they still went after her.Roofus wrote:Read more carefully. She wasn't arrested for eating candy.
a bit extreme IMO, but still there were missing details now brough to light
thats sad... i would have done the exact same thing in that ladys shoes... was this guy even a cop, or just a security guard?(i didnt think they held any real power). Either way the guy should ahve more important things to do than harass people who have things to do and dont have time for their shit. Someone should tell that guy "if you wanna arrest people go to school and become a real cop!"
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It's been a while since I've been to Washington, but in New York the tranist cops are real cops with real authority and can really arrest you. For real. I think that's why they're called 'cops.'scott6565 wrote:thats sad... i would have done the exact same thing in that ladys shoes... was this guy even a cop, or just a security guard?(i didnt think they held any real power). Either way the guy should ahve more important things to do than harass people who have things to do and dont have time for their poop. Someone should tell that guy "if you wanna arrest people go to school and become a real cop!"