Youthful Metro snackers get a break
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In the wake of an uproar over the arrest of a 12-year-old girl for
eating french fries on the subway, Washington, D.C.'s police are
backing off their policy of handcuffs and detention for such
transgressions.
from - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8508-2000Dec14.html

Starting next month, boys and girls younger than 18 who commit minor offenses will be sent to Youth Court, a program run in cooperation with school authorities, D.C. police and the D.C. corporation counsel's office, Metro officials said yesterday.

The change marks a softening of Metro's stance toward children who break Metro laws and follows an October incident in which transit police handcuffed a 12-year-old girl for eating a french fry at the Tenleytown-AU station.

Transit Police Chief Barry McDevitt said at the time that commuter complaints about unlawful eating on Metro cars and in stations led him to mount a week-long undercover crackdown on violators. A dozen plainclothes officers cited or arrested 35 people, 13 of them juveniles. One adult was arrested.

Had Ansche Hedgepeth and the other juveniles been adults, they simply would have received citations for fines up to $300. But District law requires that juveniles charged with criminal offenses be taken into custody.

The Oct. 23 arrest triggered waves of criticism of Metro and its police department and sparked a lively debate here and across the nation about the agency's "zero tolerance" policy.

Yesterday, at the Metro board of directors meeting, the fallout continued.

"This was arbitrary and capricious," said board member Chris Zimmerman, who represents Arlington. "I'm not questioning the policy of no eating. But this is not Singapore. There's got to be some notion of proportion. And if that's what you're going to do, to arrest someone for eating a french fry, you should do it all over. You shouldn't decide we're going to crack down in one particular station."

Tracy Hedgepeth, Ansche's mother, declined to comment on the change in policy. She referred all questions to the Rutherford Institute, a nonprofit legal organization based in Charlottesville that is representing the 12-year-old. Among other clients, the Rutherford Institute represented Paula Jones in her sexual harassment claim against President Clinton.

Ansche and the other youngsters were taken to the D.C. detention center, where they were checked in, fingerprinted and held for their parents to pick them up, McDevitt said. Ansche was ordered to perform community service and undergo counseling at the Boys and Girls Club.

Metro police say the Tenleytown-AU station, located near two high schools, has been a trouble zone for years.

The transit agency is working out details of the new policy with the D.C. corporation counsel, and an amendment to existing law may be required, Metro spokesman Ray Feldmann said.