A video has gone viral showing four Bay Area Rapid Transit police officers in Northern California arresting a man for eating a breakfast sandwich while waiting for his morning train.
While there is a state law prohibiting food and drink inside the train station, it is rarely enforced, according to dozens of commenters online.
The incident took place Monday at around 8 a.m. at the Pleasant Hill station but the video was not uploaded to Facebook until Friday where it began going viral. The man’s name is Steve Foster but he goes by Bill Gluckman on Facebook.
According to ABC 7.
“I was just up there eating my sandwich waiting for the train to come,” Foster said.
Foster says the officer, wearing the name badge McCormick, walked past several other people eating and drinking on the platform and confronted him. His girlfriend caught the interaction on her cellphone.
He was even handcuffed.
“I’m definitely upset, mad, a little frustrated, angry about it,” said Foster.
The video aboves begins with BART police officer McCormick trying to detain Foster while he is trying to finish eating his sandwich. The cop is trying to pull a backpack away from him while Foster refuses to let it go.
Foster also refuses to provide his name and identification because he was under the impression he was not breaking the law because he had never seen anybody get cited for eating on the train.
But earlier this year, BART spent $2.1 million to hire 19 more police officers in what it describes as a “Quality of Life” initiative, which apparently translates to cracking down on people eating sandwiches.
The video above shows the arrest. The video below shows the cop explaining his arrest.
A BART spokeswoman said Foster was ultimately cited and released and not transported to jail. He is facing a maximum $250 fine as well as 48 hours of community service.
