Unsuck DC Metro: How Safe is Gallery Place?

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

How Safe is Gallery Place?

Even lights don't appear to have made Gallery Place safe. (via @IMGoph)

Anyone else have any insight onto this incident(s)?

Sounds pretty scary.

A MTPD source I contacted didn't know anything about it.

From Chrystal via Facebook:

Did anyone else see the fight at Gallery Place Metro Monday night?

Complete mayhem. The "more police presence" is complete lip service.

Everyone was just standing around while these two kids were beating the snot out of each other.

I think it was more a diversion for about 20 to 30 kids who got out of paying Metro fare because as soon as the cops came, they BOTH took off running.

From Jessica:

On Monday night around 6, I was transferring at Gallery Place, and, as I was walking up the escalator from the lower level to get to the Red Line toward Shady Grove, I heard a woman screaming her head off.

Everyone was staring at her, and it looked like she was with some other people.

Anyway, as I got to the top of the escalator and started walking to the train, I saw three young African-American kids (teens or 20s, I couldn't really tell) just plowing through the crowded area and into people!

It looked as if they were chasing each other (coming from the direction of the train, so I'm not sure if they were originally on it).

I have no idea if they were joking around or seriously running from each other.

As I saw this I tried and move out of the way and stood against the elevator, but the last kid still brushed up against me.

I could tell he was holding something underneath his shirt with the end sticking out. I can only imagine it was a gun. I can't be 100 percent sure, but at the time this was all happening, I couldn't think of anything else it could be.

Once they all passed the crowded area, everyone was looking scared and confused.

I just bolted to my train, hoping it would leave as soon as possible.

Needless to say, I'll be transferring at Metro Center from now on.

I'm surprised there weren't more tweets on this - I only found two other people mentioning it. It all happened pretty fast, but there were a lot of people who saw what was going on.

Comments (28)

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+11 Vote up Vote down

Kathryn · 698 weeks ago

Unfortunately, this kind of behavior with the groups of youths is rampant above ground at Gallery Place as well. The MPD has been cracking down on it and has made some progress. It is possible that these kids were stopped when they got above ground.

+8 Vote up Vote down

sapphie · 698 weeks ago

I saw this as well. it was total chaos. there were SO many kids just standing around, talking sh*t being loud and trying to be bad a**. they need a whole swat team at that stop!

+9 Vote up Vote down

Soylent Green Line · 698 weeks ago

I don't know why everyone's saying that no progress has been made. Two kids fighting is a lot better than twenty.

Metro Forward!

+11 Vote up Vote down

Anon5 · 698 weeks ago

I saw this too. I think it was more than three. I saw more like five black kids running around and one definitely had a gun/knife hidden somewhere.

+3 Vote up Vote down

mike · 698 weeks ago

I've taken my wife to Gallery a couple of times and she refuses to go with me anymore. It feels unsafe at all times of the day there.

+14 Vote up Vote down

Vin · 698 weeks ago

Witnessed two MPD cops making an arrest on the Gallery Place Yellow Line platform the other day. Where where the Transit Police? In their usual spot, gabbing away in the station manager's kiosk. They should thank MPD for keeping them out of danger.

+14 Vote up Vote down

Happy Tuesday · 698 weeks ago

Why don't they do something about the Nation of Islam folks screaming their heads off on Friday afternoons? Sure it's free speech, but if I was standing on the corner of the busiest intersection in Old Town telling everyone the "black" man is the devil and the result of all that is wrong with the world, a few people might have some legit complaints.

Just sayin'

3 replies · active 687 weeks ago

+3 Vote up Vote down

Chek · 698 weeks ago

Ugh, yes, I saw them a couple of months ago when I was there. I think they're Black Hebrew Israelites. I used to see them all the time in NY, but that was my first time encountering them here. Nauseating!

-2 Vote up Vote down

guest · 698 weeks ago

The Nation of Islam is black isn't it?

+1 Vote up Vote down

AndrewMconaldDC 4p · 687 weeks ago

Right. It is better to do it on the internet.

+15 Vote up Vote down

DC Denizen · 698 weeks ago

How safe is Gallery Place, you ask? About as safe as the rest of the Metro system. Ahem.

1 reply · active 698 weeks ago

+2 Vote up Vote down

Veteran Rider · 698 weeks ago

Stop - you're scaring me! It's scary cause it's true.

+8 Vote up Vote down

Mitch · 698 weeks ago

Gallery Place is dangerous from 3:30 to close. And I am sorry to say that it is DC youtes - undisciplined foolishness! I have tried contacting Transit Police so many tuimes that I just gave up. They don't even want to be bothered to keep their own system safe.

+12 Vote up Vote down

bull · 698 weeks ago

Back in 2007 Metro rolled out a program called "Respect. Give it. Get it." to deal with unruly teens. Ever heard of it? I doubt it. It died a quiet, obviously unfulfilled death. The Washington Post ran an article on the program, on March 21, 2007 which discussed the ongoing problem of unruly and dangerous youths in the Metro system entitled "Metro Has A Lesson For Unruly Students; Effort Aims to Quell Surge in Bad Behavior." The problem has only continued and worsened, with next to nothing accomplished, and it will continue as long as teens are allowed to act as thugs without corrective action from parents (#1 culprits in my opinion), school administrators, and a real push by Metro to keep its customers and employees safe.

+5 Vote up Vote down

F'n JD · 698 weeks ago

Metro transit - for adults only.

+3 Vote up Vote down

John · 698 weeks ago

Oddly, of all the years I've transferred at Gallery Place, I've never really had any issues. I know stuff happens at Gallery Place from news reports and what not, but I've been really fortunate I guess. I was at Gallery Place at around 630 on Monday, and didn't notice any fights. I did notice that no trains were heading south on the yellow/green platform and there was no announcement whatsoever in regards to what was going on. Nothing. The platform was beginning to reach capacity and nothing was said. I'm surprised the tension from those conditions didn't cause some sort of ruckus. I just ended up going to Metro center and taking the blue line to South Arlington rather than deal with that BS.

Of course, good ol' Dr. Gridlock mentioned nothing about the clusterfuck that occurred at Gallery Place and L'Enfant Plaza, but at this point, we should expect that guy to ignore events like this in order to try to paint Metro in a more positive light.

+1 Vote up Vote down

Anonymous Coward · 698 weeks ago

Interesting. I saw a fight between two groups of teenagers at Metro Center at about 6:25PM on Monday. There were no police around.

1 reply · active 698 weeks ago

+2 Vote up Vote down

Golden Silence · 698 weeks ago

Not surprised.

I was going to reply with the original poster's comment of "Needless to say, I'll be transferring at Metro Center from now on" with a comment that bad kids act up at Metro Center too. Not as bad as Gallery Place, but bad enough to want to avoid. The virtual transfer at Farragut is now active, so I'll be using that to transfer from now on. I doubt the bad kids are smart enough to follow WMATA updates and know about this, so I don't think they'll be bringing their chaos to Farragut.

-11 Vote up Vote down

Rob · 698 weeks ago

"I can only imagine it was a gun. I can't be 100 percent sure."

Hey Jessica: Try to not think about an elephant.

1 reply · active 698 weeks ago

-13 Vote up Vote down

Guest · 698 weeks ago

Seems like if she can "only imagine" it was a gun, she can't even be 10 percent sure

+4 Vote up Vote down

formerpopo · 698 weeks ago

I have complained to DC Police and Metro Transit about this area all the time, I see iphones snatched out of peoples hands all the time. I get the same song and dance -- oddly enough there is a federal police agency in the neighborhood, their Chief of Police won't let them do police work though, just guard - they used to be able to assist.

+5 Vote up Vote down

jelani3000 1p · 698 weeks ago

What a joke. Gallery Place isnt safe AT ALL! My wife and I avoid it all ALL COSTS. Way to many teens milling around without HARDLY ANY police presence. Gallery Place is among the worst.

+8 Vote up Vote down

hrh king friday 13 · 698 weeks ago

Was everybody kung fu fighting at Chinatown?

2 replies · active 698 weeks ago

-12 Vote up Vote down

Anon5 · 698 weeks ago

shut up you racist bastard

+5 Vote up Vote down

MadAsHeck · 698 weeks ago

In fact, it was a little bit frightning...

+4 Vote up Vote down

One take · 698 weeks ago

Gallery Place is one of the worst stations any time of the day. While the city rejuvenated the street level with fancy retail and upscale eateries – in the summertime especially, it only seems to draw masses of local loitering violent teens; that for the most part are only looking to cause trouble as they come up or go down the Metro escalator. What can you do? There are hardly any police there; and oftentimes, those you see don’t seem very concerned about restoring any kind of order. It’s sad. The ‘new’ Chinatown had so much potential at the outset, but these thugs turned it into a really bad place to go.

+3 Vote up Vote down

Kipp · 698 weeks ago

I dunno folks. I use Gallery Place as my end stop every day for work. Usually there between 7:30 and 8:30am and 5:15 and 6:15pm. I've never had a problem. Yes, there are lots of questionable folks around; and I do really dislike the preacher-man preaching about how my (white) race is the reason why black people are unemployed, overall, a good place to get on/off the metro.
I'm sorry that kids get into fights. If I saw that nonsense, I would step in (in most cases). Why don't you look around, find a couple of upright citizens and step in together? These kids don't have good parents, so maybe they need a few good people to tell them that their behavior is unacceptable. Can we start a metro guardian angel program?

1 reply · active 698 weeks ago

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Dino · 698 weeks ago

People tend to not take action when they are in a group, or in public--the hope being that somebody else will do something. Ever hear the story about Kitty Genovese in NYC back in the 1960's? She was a young woman that was mugged and murdered in the alley behind her apartment building, with numerous witness to the crime. Not a single person assisted her, because they presumed somebody else more capable would come to her aid.
There's also a bit of risk management involved. Nobody can foretell which of these youths have a weapon or not, and how reactive are they when it comes to using it. Thus, maybe it's better to move along and vent your frustrations on a blog.