>>> May 16, 2002

No exit

After travelling to several stations looking for a working elevator, a wheelchair-bound passenger on the Washington, D.C., Metro met a final indignity: he was given a ticket by a transit cop.

Jeremiah Hamilton always calls the Metro automated information line before leaving home. The line reports on the status of Metro elevators, handy knowledge to a man who cannot get to street level without them. His route planned, Hamilton arrived at his preferred stop to find the elevator out of service. He tried several other stations with the same result. Finally wholly frustrated, Hamilton shouted “a profane message” directed at Metro employees. A Transit Police officer heard him and wrote up a $25 ticket.
After Hamilton’s story ran in the Washington Post, Metro officials received enough complaints to make the Transit Police Chief say he would ask prosecutors to void the ticket. :

—Scott Saxon