Page "Washington Metro" Paragraph 37

Each city and county in the Metro service area has similar ordinances that regulate or prohibit vending on Metro-owned property, and which prohibit riders from eating, drinking, or smoking in Metro trains, buses, and stations ; the Transit Police have a reputation for enforcing these laws rigorously.

One widely publicized incident occurred in 2000 when police arrested a 12-year-old girl for eating french fries in the Tenleytown-AU station.

In a 2004 opinion by John Roberts, now the Chief Justice of the United States, the D. C.

Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the girl's arrest.

By then WMATA had answered negative publicity by adopting a policy of first issuing warnings to juveniles, and arresting them only after three violations within a year.