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Cops Really Are Cracking Down On Subway Seat Hogs
By
Jen Chung
Published Mar 21, 2010
Modified Mar 21, 2010
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By
Jen Chung
Published Mar 21, 2010
Modified Mar 21, 2010
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Here's the latest report of someone being ticketed for taking up more than one seat: In his "About New York" column, Jim Dwyer writes about a 24-year-old who landed a $50 ticket for his 1:30 a.m. subway seat greediness on a nearly empty 2 train from Manhattan to Crown Heights. Ryan David LaMont said at the Atlantic Avenue stop, "An N.Y.P.D. officer stepped into the car, pointed at me and another guy who was sitting on the other end of the train. He told us, 'Get off the train.'"
LaMont further explained, "I had my legs up on the seat. My feet were draped over the edge. For one thing, it’s courtesy not to put your feet on the seat. Also, I’d heard someone else getting yelled at a few weeks earlier for having their feet on the seat." Maybe he was thinking about the Stuyvesant High School student who got ticketed last month? No matter, take up more than one seat and you're ticket bait!
Tickets for subway seat hogs increased 17% last year; Dwyer points out that it's probably easier for the cops to "stand on a subway platform and wait for a train to deliver offenders to them directly" than trying to chase fare-beaters on subways or buses.
LaMont said, "I wasn’t drunk or rowdy. I was literally reading my book on an empty train. I didn’t argue with them. I said, ‘I understand what you’re doing, but in what way was I obstructing someone else from sitting down?’ The officer said, ‘Look, man, this is just what we’re doing tonight.’"
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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