While California grapples with homeless shooting heroin and pooping on city streets, a man was arrested for eating a sandwich while waiting on a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) train.
Video of the Nov. 4 arrest went viral over the weekend, and it shows a BART officer stopping and handcuffing a man because he was eating a sandwich while waiting for a train at the Pleasant Hill station which is northeast of San Francisco.
“BART said the man was stopped for eating in the system, which is against state law, and that [he] was handcuffed when he refused to provide his name for the citation,” reported Mercury News.
The police stopped this man for eating a sandwich. How can anybody defend this? pic.twitter.com/98neUGB1vi
— Marc Lamont Hill (@marclamonthill) November 10, 2019
The irony here cannot be overstated: in a state overwhelmed with heroin addicts living – and pooping – on the streets, the police were quick to uphold the law against a man who was merely eating on a train platform.
As ridiculous as this sounds, there is a weird logic behind it: when sheer lawlessness (such as defecating in front of a place of business) is tolerated, the police tend to focus more on petty “crimes” by productive members of society.
When California allows people to shoot up in public to steal as long as the amount is under $950 and even defecate in public no one can defend the acts of this PO, the PO seem now to only go after law abiding people
— solomon zabrowsky (@SZabrowsky) November 10, 2019
And some may even argue that the state law outlawing eating at a BART station is as nonsensical as some elements of California’s Prop. 47, which analysts have blamed for adding to the homeless problem.
According to the Woodland Daily Democrat:
Approved by voters in November 2014, Prop. 47 reclassified a number of crimes as misdemeanors instead of felonies, including shoplifting, forgery, fraud, petty theft and drug offenses….
…Although “well-intentioned,” the law has spurred an uptick in homeless individuals across the state, according to [Yolo County District Attorney Jeff] Reisig. “We can’t ignore it now.”
The longtime county district attorney said the homeless population falls into three categories — the “truly destitute” individuals who lost their jobs, suffered a tragedy and are desperate for help; those suffering from mental illness; and those who are “driven by addiction.”
The last category “has exploded in the last few years,” the district attorney told the newspaper, adding that Prop. 47 has given addicted homeless the incentive to ignore misdemeanor drug charges.
The Meme Wars Continue…..
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