No good deed goes unpunished

[Theophylact]

Subway Rider Busted for Selling a Token

ATLANTA - Transit police handcuffed and cited a man who sold a $1.75 subway token to another rider who was having trouble with a token vending machine. Transit authority spokeswoman Jocelyn Baker said Friday that the officer "acted within the law" after he spotted Donald Pirone, 42, selling the token Nov. 30 inside the West End subway station

Instead of giving Pirone a warning, the officer decided to handcuff him and give him the misdemeanor citation under a 1992 state law that bars passengers from selling Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority tokens, she said.

"What you've got to keep in mind is that fare abuse is a chronic problem," Baker said. "It costs MARTA millions of dollars every year."

Baker acknowledged that Pirone sold the token at face value and did not make a profit. But the law is the law, she said.

"There are customer service phones for people who are having trouble getting tokens out of the machine," Baker said. "The fact is, our officer acted within the law."

As for the handcuffs, Baker said the officer felt they were necessary.

"Our officers do that for their own safety," Baker said.

There was no answer Friday at a phone listed to a Donald V. Pirone in Atlanta. Pirone told WSB Radio that he was just trying to help a fellow passenger out who was having trouble with a token machine.

"I gave him a token and, I guess out of his generosity, he gave me the money for it," Pirone said. "But I didn't ask him for money."

(Tip o' the hat to Susie Madrak.)

[GroundZero3]

lol

[dzee]

thank god these madmen are getting handcuffed & those lovely killers, rapeists, terrorists etc are running free grinning

[SeanC]

(begin sarcasm) Agreed! Those evil and very dangerous subway token sellers are such a menace to society they MUST BE PUNISHED!! (end sarcasm)

Whether it's against the law or not, that's just pushing it too far. He charged the guy face value and was helping him out. He could have given it to him for free but I bet that's against the law too.

[no1_vern]

?

HOW is selling the token at face value to another customer an "abuse" ?? Sooner or later the token will be used, and it will go back into circulation!

[Thud]

"There are customer service phones for people who are having trouble getting tokens out of the machine," Baker said. "The fact is, our officer acted within the law."

Yes, and we all know just how helpful those automated "assistance" systems are, don't we?

Long live bureaucracy!

[Gait_Keeper]

tsk tsk...................

same type rules here in NYC