Metro Cops "Overwhelmed"

Since Metro hasn't bothered to update their police blotter since October 1 of last year, we thought it was time for a little rundown of recent events.

One Metro cop we talked to said the MTPD is "overwhelmed."

"Everyone thinks there are 420 of us out in the street, when really it's around 200 at any given time," they said. "That's three different shifts and two separate days off, either a Thursday, Friday, or Saturday off or a Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday off. Yes, that's right. Wednesday is when you'll see the most of us out there. Wednesdays are great because there are cops everywhere in the system! It should be like that everyday!"

From anonymous:

At around 9 a.m. Monday, at L'Enfant Plaza, on the lower platform (Blue/Orange lines), an older white male (perhaps mid 50s or later 40s, wearing a red "Members Only" style jacket, blue jeans and white sneakers) started yelling obscenities on the escalator at a young African American woman (mid 20s, brown leather bomber jacket, skinny blue jeans, long curly hair) who had apparently cut in front of him on the escalator.

He yelled at her the whole way down, and she defended herself.

He called her "f**ing ignorant" when they reached the platform.

The next thing I saw was he had her in a headlock and then wrestled her to the ground.

The crowd on the platform jumped to her defense, and at least six or seven people were rolling around on the floor, trying to pull the man off of her.

Anyone could have been knocked off the platform onto the tracks, into the path of an incoming train.

People succeeded in pulling him off of her, and he tried swinging violently in every direction.

After five minutes, the crowd scattered.

I'm not sure if the man was apprehended or the woman filed a report, but people did call 911 to report the incident.

Metro's response:

"We received a call at 9:00 for an assault. Officers responded and searched the Yellow line platform, found nothing and cleared the call at 9:10."

From Lee:

When on my way home from work Sunday morning at around 2:30, there were several Metro cops corralling a young male on the mezzanine of the Bethesda station inside the faregates but before going down to the actual platform.

When I got to my usual bench, I noticed a pool of blood.

It was dripping into a puddle on the floor.

I mention the detail just to convey that it was clearly a decent amount of blood, not just splatter or a small bit wiped from a hand or something.

Just curious if anyone has any details on what transpired?

I don’t recall seeing an ambulance, so whoever was injured must have gotten on a train or already been taken away.

Metro's response:

"We received a call for service for an assault in progress at BETH. When MTPD officers arrived they discovered that a second degree assault had occurred. A suspect was taken into custody."

Other items:
Horrible story of rider indifference (WUSA)
MetroAccess drivers say they're paying out of pocket (Examiner)