An 18-year-old college student who paid only a portion of her bus fare says Metro Transit Police officers shoved her to the ground over 75 cents -- and Metro says the woman bit an officer.
Nadiyah Peacock boarded a Metrobus the afternoon of July 10 and found she didn't have enough change to pay the full $1.75 fare. She said she paid $1.
"I didn't really think it was a big deal," she said. "I was looking in my bag to find 75 cents, if I had it, but I didn't," the Temple University student home for the summer told News4.
Before she knew it, Peacock was approached on the bus by undercover Metro Transit Police officers. The officers asked her for identification, which she said she didn't have. Peacock said she asked to call her mother, and then the situation escalated.
"[An officer] tried to take my phone out of my hand, and then they both immediately slammed me on the ground," she said. "I was scared. These were two grown men. I'm small. I didn't know what was going on."
Police say Peacock resisted being stopped and bit an officer on his right arm during the melee.
Peacock said she doesn't think she bit anyone.
Local
Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia local news, events and information
"I don't remember biting him. I just remember him slamming me on the ground, and I was kicking and trying to get him off me," she said. "I didn't know what was going to happen, especially with all this police brutality going on in America."
Peacock, who said the two officers were white, refused treatment on the scene but went to a hospital later with bruises. Metro said one of the two officers also went to a hospital.
Criminal charges are pending against Peacock, according to Metro. She was charged with one misdemeanor count of assault on a police officer, online court records show. A Metro representative declined to provide additional information.
Peacock's mother, Ayoka Blandford, said she was alarmed.
"I'm angry, I'm sad," she said. "It's too much. We have to fight for our children because -- she has no record. She has never been in any trouble and now she has to go to court."
Metro began a crackdown on bus fare evaders this spring, placing undercover officers on buses and comparing the number of riders to the number of fares paid.
Last month, a man Metro Transit Police said rode a bus on Capitol Hill without paying and then fought officers was pepper-sprayed.
