An officer with the Metro Transit Police Department is hurt after someone suspected of not paying their bus fare stabbed the officer Tuesday at the Gallery Place station in D.C., Metro said.
Metro officers were at the Gallery Place station about 11:30 a.m. to make sure Metrobus riders paid their fares when they stopped a suspect for not paying, a spokesperson for Metro said.
During the interaction, the suspect refused to follow the officers' commands and tried to run off. When officers tried to detain the suspect, the suspect then took out a knife and stabbed one of them in the wrist, the spokesperson said.
D.C. police officers helped to detain the suspect after they ran away, Metro said.
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Metro said the suspect was arrested and the knife was recovered. Police have not named the suspect.
The officer was taken to a hospital with injuries that are not life-threatening.
Last month, Metro said it was cracking down on fare evasion on buses. More than 70% of bus riders aren't paying the $2.25 bus fare, WMATA General Manager Randy Clarke said in late November.
"We've heard loud and clear from people. It's something that we are working on. So, starting the week after Thanksgiving, we are going to go after the bus system much more significantly," Clarke said.
"So we'll take a place — and I use this purely as an example — a place like Silver Spring, where there's a lot of bus bays, or Minnesota Avenue or that type of example. We might have three or four officers but now we might target them with some special police or transportation supervisors, and we'll spread them out at the different bays, and they'll just stand by the door. And basically, if you don't pay, you're not getting on," Clarke said.
