Runner outraged over ticket on empty train

[jnelsoninjax]

AN OUTRAGED Brooklyn woman has vowed to fight a $50 summons for resting her injured leg on a seat in a nearly empty subway car.

Kate Wilson, 29, said she was nursing a strained calf muscle and propped her right leg up on an empty seat while riding the D train in Borough Park about 1 a.m. Sunday.

The car was sprinkled with about five straphangers, she said, when three cops told her to step off the train at the 36th St. station, just one stop from her home.

?There were empty seats all around the whole car,? she said. ?It was ridiculous. It wasn?t a conversation. I felt harassed.?

As one cop began to write her a summons for obstructing seating, Wilson tried to reason with the officers and told them she ran 4 miles through Prospect Park the day before.

?I told them that I had run a race and my leg had been injured,? she said. ?But, no, they didn?t care.?

She continued to protest until the officers told her she should ?be grateful? she wasn?t getting cuffed, she recalled.

?I asked them if they had bigger fish to fry,? she recalled. ?The police officer said, ?Yeah, but we?re frying this one now.? ?

Wilson, who works as an administrative assistant in the city, said she finally just bit her lip.

?It was a waste of resources,? she said. ?I can?t help but believe this is happening to other people, but nobody comes forward.?

The NYPD didn?t respond to requests for comment.

?It?s not that [the cops] are bad people,? Wilson said. ?It?s just that they shouldn?t be robots.?

The most recent NYPD statistics show that summons activity has declined in Transit District 34, which covers the area where Wilson was caught. Tickets for occupying more than one seat are down more than 23% from the same period last year, the stats show.

After getting the ticket, Wilson said it was too late to wait for another train, so she walked several blocks home.

?I walked away with a $50 ticket and didn?t see a single cop along the streets to my home,? she said. ?Three cops on the platform and no cops on the street.?

Wilson is due in court on March 27.

Source

[AbandonedTrolley]

Seats are for bums not for feet. Why does she think she should be putting her dirty shoes on the seats that people have to sit on?

[Muhammad Farrukh]

:s

[dancedar]

Seats are for bums not for feet. Why does she think she should be putting her dirty shoes on the seats that people have to sit on?

Did you even read the story?

[StevenNT]

Seats are for bums not for feet. Why does she think she should be putting her dirty shoes on the seats that people have to sit on?

She was in a race and hurt her leg, thus putting it on the seat to ease the discomfort, or is that not allowed regardless of the situation in your mind? :rolleyes:

Did you even read the story?

I doubt it :rolleyes:

[HawkMan]

Even if the ticket says obstruction the intent is that you're not supposed to put your feet on the seats.

I almost got ticketed for the same when I was in Belgia way back, after walking for a whole day and having really sore feet. However bad and sore your feet is, the seats are not for them. people are supposed to sit on them.

[leesmithg]

She is talking hog-wash, seats are for bums not luggage or feet.

You need to stretch the muscle to ease pain by gripping ankle and pulling the ankle up to your backside slowly at first then stretch it.

[OOOOOOOO]

Even if the ticket says obstruction the intent is that you're not supposed to put your feet on the seats.

I almost got ticketed for the same when I was in Belgia way back, after walking for a whole day and having really sore feet. However bad and sore your feet is, the seats are not for them. people are supposed to sit on them.

Oh shut up. This story is ridiculous and anyone with any sense of a brain can see this was pathetic. What a stupid waste of police time. In fact, it's a disgusting waste of police time, and it's the equivalent of playing around on facebook in the office. Time wasting because they couldn't be bothered to do their job properly.

[Ambroos]

In Belgium the train guys just tell you to take your feet off the seat, or they tell you to find one of those free news papers that are all over the trains and put those under your shoes :p But I see many people just walk around in the train on their socks, it's lovely. Homely feeling.

This story is indeed ridiculous. They could've said something perhaps, but to give her a ticket for that is absolutely absurd.

[djdanster]

Oh shut up. This story is ridiculous and anyone with any sense of a brain can see this was pathetic. What a stupid waste of police time. In fact, it's a disgusting waste of police time, and it's the equivalent of playing around on facebook in the office. Time wasting because they couldn't be bothered to do their job properly.

Exactly

[n_K]

Oh shut up. This story is ridiculous and anyone with any sense of a brain can see this was pathetic. What a stupid waste of police time. In fact, it's a disgusting waste of police time, and it's the equivalent of playing around on facebook in the office. Time wasting because they couldn't be bothered to do their job properly.

True it's a waste of time, but police not doing their job properly? Police are to enforce the law, or a set of rules everyone apparently agreed too (I'm still waiting to see this ****ing huge contract I apparently signed), she was breaking the rules and they caught her and enforced the rules.

[Detection]

I would have told them to cuff me, imagine standing in court with the cop trying to justify why he arrested you for resting your leg on a seat

I would video the court hearing and post it all over youtube

[djdanster]

I would have told them to cuff me, imagine standing in court with the cop trying to justify why he arrested you for resting your leg on a seat

I would video the court hearing and post it all over youtube

Now that would be a video :D

[Dotdot]

Leg hurt or not, she knew the risk and went for it. Why should she be treated any different?

If her leg was so soar, take a pain killer, or lay it out in front of you. But by putting it on the seat she was breaking the law and knew this, thats the point.

[redvamp128]

the sad part is not really about the foot in the seat-- they could have asked her to move ... 3 cops = one car on a train -- multiple city blocks -- woman walking alone- - No COPS....

what is more sadness is the fact that-- The ticket is 50$ yet you can park next to too close to the curb or intersection and or in a loading zone and you pay 35$ (what is up with that?)

[Sir Topham Hatt]

While seats on feet do annoy me:

• The train was largly empty.
  
• She was just one block from her home.
  
• She was obviously injured.
  

She maybe should have removed shoes. Then I don't mind people putting their feet on the seats if the train is empty.

If her leg was so soar, take a pain killer, or lay it out in front of you. But by putting it on the seat she was breaking the law and knew this, thats the point.

So if someone was dying on the street, all bloody and stuff and they wet themselves, would the said person get a fine too? With your logic, yes they should.

Similarly, if a Fire Chief vehicle parked on double yellow lines to attend a fire, would they get a parking ticket? With your logic, yes they should.

Hell, with your logic, emergency vehicles passing through red lights or speeding should also get tickets!

And it's sore by the way. The lady wasn't flying high above the mountains :p

Would have been a different story if something happened to her on the way home huh?

[jakem1]

Seats are for bums not for feet. Why does she think she should be putting her dirty shoes on the seats that people have to sit on?

+1

If the seat in front of her was unoccupied then she should have stretched her injured leg under it. Other passengers shouldn't have to sit on whatever filth she has on her shoes just because she has some feeble excuse.

[Dick Montage]

Seats are for bums not feet. I 100% agree with this, I'd never put my feed up on a seat. However...

She could have just been ASKED and avoid this whole situation rather than ticketted!

[Original Poster]

its stupid... I put my feet on the seats all the time.... if the train has loads of people on it obviously I will not ... just grab one of the crappy news papers left there and put it over the seat

[Dapen]

Some of you guys, come ooooon! I wouldn't have ever known it was illegal to rest your feet on the seat infront of you! I did it all the time when I used to use a train and if anyone came near it I'd take them off incase they wanted to sit there.

Why are you such followers of stupid laws? No wonder they're made law so easily, people like you are behind them!

What next? Some groups want public breast feeding banned, I bet you'd be backing that one too. Lol.

[RiverCampher]

Er okay, remember that this 'news' is basically that woman's opinion. How are we to know she isn't making the whole thing up... She could be just 'one of those people' who's obnoxious and complains constantly. I know a few people like that go and on and on about picky things. She might of been asked several times to remove her foot from the seat and she didn't want to.

Yet most here try to defend her over the police who were doing their job. It's a strange world we live in.

[chrisj1968]

Look, Police are just revenue generators. It has nothing to do with anything more than bringing in cash for cash strapped cities and towns these days.

[Marcos_Edson]

Yet most here try to defend her over the police who were doing their job. It's a strange world we live in.

A world where three cops force anyone to step out of an almost empty train to ticket him/her over the given situation... yes, it?s a strange world...

[jakem1]

Some of you guys, come ooooon! I wouldn't have ever known it was illegal to rest your feet on the seat infront of you! I did it all the time when I used to use a train and if anyone came near it I'd take them off incase they wanted to sit there.

Why are you such followers of stupid laws?

I don't know what trains you get but there are posters on my local Greater Anglian trains asking passengers not to put their feet on the seats.

You shouldn't put your feet up on the seats out of simple courtesy to other travellers who might like to be able to sit down on a clean seat. I presume you don't put your dirty shoes all over your sofa at home so why do it on a train?

[Duality]

I don't know what trains you get but there are posters on my local Greater Anglian trains asking passengers not to put their feet on the seats.

You shouldn't put your feet up on the seats out of simple courtesy to other travellers who might like to be able to sit down on a clean seat. I presume you don't put your dirty shoes all over your sofa at home so why do it on a train?

Same where I live - the trains are covered in signs saying that feet on the seats may result in prosecution. It is not a hard rule to follow.