Page 4
News
Street Roots • May 1 -7, 2015
TriMet
holds
onto
Class A
offense
BY EMILY GREEN
STAFF W R IT E R
espite strong criticism from public
defenders and a legislative push for
greater leniency, transit police will
continue to be allowed to issue harsh
“interfering with public transit” charges for
minor offenses that, in most cases, have
nothing to do with actual interference in the
operation of public transit
At an April 2 meeting at TriMet’s
Harrison Square offices, a bill aimed at
limiting the use of this blanket charge
issued to riders by police was on the
chopping block. It was two weeks before the
bill’s first scheduled public hearing, and
TriMet lobbyist Aaron Deas had arranged
the sit down among TriMet officials, a
TriMet-funded district attorney and
legislators.
As a result of the meeting; Rep. Jeff
Barker, (D-Aloha) chair of the House
Judiciary Committee reviewing the bill,
decided to postpone the bill’s first hearing,
effectively ending its chances for passage
this session.
“There was a lot of pushback,” says
Barker. “A lot of people were concerned.
They want public transportation to be safe,
and they think this is a tool that’s not being
misused.”
Also present at the meeting that day was
Erica Rothman, an attorney at Metropolitan
Public Defender Services in Portland. She
originally brought the bill to Rep. Lew
Frederick, (D-Portland) who introduced it,
after becoming frustrated with what she and
other public defenders say is a charge that’s
a waste of court resources. Rothman says
she represents four to five clients per week
who face interfering with public transit
charges - a Class A misdemeanor
punishable by up to one year in jail — usually
in circumstances where a less serious
charge would apply?
“I was disappointed with the meeting,”
says Rothman. “They kept talking about
safely and security, but if someone assaults
someone, that’s what assault charges are
for.”
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P H O TO BY M IC H A E L DÉNBO
Frederick’s office was unaware of why the
bill had died so suddenly, but his
spokesperson says, “Frederick will be back
with this issue.”
And he’s not the only one. Rep. Mitch
Greenlick, (D-Portland) says he found out
about the bill “late in the game,” but intends
to sponsor it next session if TriMet doesn’t
remedy the problem in the interim.
“I’ve been a huge TriMet supporter
whenever they try and do anything, and they
know that, and I say, ‘You guys got to get a
handle on this or you’re going to lose all
your best champions in the Legislature,’” he
says, “because I’m really annoyed.”
“I mean, a misdemeanor with a 30-day
possible sentence is one thing, but having
the possibility of a 12-month sentence, that
just seems completely outrageous to me,”
says Greenlick. “I think they should do away
with the interfering with public transit
option except in cases where there’s really
interfering with public transit.”
“Interfering with public transit” or IPT,
carries the most serious misdemeanor
charge available and carries the same
weight as DUII or misdemeanor assault. But
only a fraction of offenders charged with
IPT actually physically and intentionally
interfered with the operation of a transit
vehicle, contrary to what the name ¿f the
charge might suggest. It is’most commonly
issued to people who enter TriMet property
while under a temporary exclusion.
House Bill 2826 was intended to protect
transit riders from receiving an IPT charge
for merely entering TriMet property while
under exclusion. The bill would have
changed the language of the charge so that
it would no longer apply to someone who
“enters or remains unlawfully in or on a
public transit vehicle or public transit
station.”
Exclusions can be issued for many
reasons, including failing to pay the fare,
which for most riders is $2.50 for two and a
half hours. It typically requires the
offending rider to stay off TriMet property
for 30 days, but the exclusion doesn’t begin
the day the citation is issued. It begins on
the 11th business day after the citation is
issued, which public defenders say creates
confusion. If an offender fails to accurately
calculate the duration of the exclusion and
steps onto a MAX platform, into a bus
shelter or boards a transit vehicle before the
30 days has expired, they can be arrested,
jailed and charged with IPT.
This past July, transit rider Chris Tejero
was charged with IPT after he entered
TriMet’s WES Commuter Rail line without
paying. The ticket kiosk wasn’t functioning
properly and the conductor had given him
permission to enter the vehicle, as
previously reported by Street Roots (“One
wrong step,’' Street Roots, March 6, 2015).
He was not under exclusion. It was only
after Tejero went to trial and a jury heard
testimony from the conductor, that Tejero
was acquitted of the Class A misdemeanor.
See TRIMET, page 5