Chron letters: METRO undercover cops harass downtown professional

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From the Chronicle letter section comes another edition of METRO customer-service excellence:

On May 9, I exited the Metro train at the TMC Transit Center station and a man called out to me asking me to stop. I looked at him, saw that he was dressed in a University of Houston jersey, and thought he was trying to hand out information or advertise something. I turned away from him to continue down the platform so I could go to work. He ran up to me before I reached the end of the platform, screamed at me and grabbed my arm. It was only at this time that I recognized him as a plain-clothed Metro police officer.

The only form of identification he had was a badge hanging on his neck that previously was not visible because of the crowd. Even when he identified himself, he shoved me toward the center of the platform where his partner in harassment, dressed in a Pittsburgh Steelers jersey, verbally berated me as well. This rude behavior from an officer in plain clothes is needless to verify that I, a 34-year-old man in professional dress, paid a dollar to ride the train.

This whole incident could have been avoided if the men were in uniform and clearly identified as Metro police.

CHRISTOPHER DONOHOE
Tomball

Were these undercover members of METRO’s elite counterterror unit? We’ll probably never know. But if you’re riding METRO and someone in a Cougar or Steelers jersey acts belligerently, better snap to attention — you wouldn’t want to get Tasered by Tom Lambert’s finest!


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