There’s some confusion of order going on. In no state would it be illegal to buy someone else a ticket. However, if someone is being arrested for riding without a fare, the crime(whether it should be considered that or not), has already been committed. Even if they could afford to buy a ticket themselves, making that purchase after the fact won’t prevent the fine/arrest. So someone stepping in and offering to purchase a ticket doesn’t change the outcome either.
Well you’re right, once the crime (even if it is fairly petty) has been committed, there’s no way to step in and purchase the ticket after the fact, it’s just that it was sad to see how unsympathetic the patrol people were to her plight. If my family had not purchased a ticket, I still feel like we still would have been treated better than they treated her, they were pretty rough with her and she was already in a lot of distress. There has just got to be a better way.
There’s definitely something wrong with how metro police and police in general profile people and treat some as less than human.
I just wanted to clarify the specific point about paying for another person not being illegal.
I probably should have added that panhandling and loitering are illegal in some areas. So buying tickets for strangers wouldn’t be illegal anywhere, but hanging around and asking strangers to buy you a ticket can be considered illegal.
Also, cops aren’t required to be honest/informed on the letter of the law. So there’s no guarantee a cop wouldn’t tell someone something false about whether helping a stranger is allowed.
That is true in some cases, as in any field there are always bad actors, police are not above being temperamental. I know that I could never do that job, because I’m quick to anger and not very sympathetic when someone gets in my way.
But to be fair, this poor lady, she didn’t ask anyone to buy her a ticket (that I’m aware), she was just caught using the trax train without one. And that is illegal, i get that, no matter who you are. But she was so stressed out, bawling her eyes out and asking for help. I just wanted to offer help but the police were standoffish and took her away.
If she had approached us before she boarded and asked if we could help buy a ticket, we certainly would have. I’d rather spend a little to help someone that watch them being treated like a sick animal with no value. That was a very sad day for me.
There’s some confusion of order going on. In no state would it be illegal to buy someone else a ticket. However, if someone is being arrested for riding without a fare, the crime(whether it should be considered that or not), has already been committed. Even if they could afford to buy a ticket themselves, making that purchase after the fact won’t prevent the fine/arrest. So someone stepping in and offering to purchase a ticket doesn’t change the outcome either.
Well you’re right, once the crime (even if it is fairly petty) has been committed, there’s no way to step in and purchase the ticket after the fact, it’s just that it was sad to see how unsympathetic the patrol people were to her plight. If my family had not purchased a ticket, I still feel like we still would have been treated better than they treated her, they were pretty rough with her and she was already in a lot of distress. There has just got to be a better way.
There’s definitely something wrong with how metro police and police in general profile people and treat some as less than human.
I just wanted to clarify the specific point about paying for another person not being illegal.
I probably should have added that panhandling and loitering are illegal in some areas. So buying tickets for strangers wouldn’t be illegal anywhere, but hanging around and asking strangers to buy you a ticket can be considered illegal.
Also, cops aren’t required to be honest/informed on the letter of the law. So there’s no guarantee a cop wouldn’t tell someone something false about whether helping a stranger is allowed.
That is true in some cases, as in any field there are always bad actors, police are not above being temperamental. I know that I could never do that job, because I’m quick to anger and not very sympathetic when someone gets in my way.
But to be fair, this poor lady, she didn’t ask anyone to buy her a ticket (that I’m aware), she was just caught using the trax train without one. And that is illegal, i get that, no matter who you are. But she was so stressed out, bawling her eyes out and asking for help. I just wanted to offer help but the police were standoffish and took her away.
If she had approached us before she boarded and asked if we could help buy a ticket, we certainly would have. I’d rather spend a little to help someone that watch them being treated like a sick animal with no value. That was a very sad day for me.