Massive Brawl On Metro Brings Curfew Into Question

By Patrick Madden

As transit police continue to investigate this weekend’s massive brawl at the Gallery Place Metro station that involved 70 young people, D.C. Council Member Tommy Wells says he wants to make the city’s summer curfew stricter.

Veronica Gravitt says she witnesses fights all the time on Metro’s buses and trains, and she’s "all for" moving the curfew back.

"They need to be home - or they need to be in the house," she says. "They don’t need to be out in the streets."

On weekends, all D.C. residents 17 and under must be off the streets by midnight; Wells would like to see it kick in an hour earlier.

Of course, curfews are unpopular with young people, and with some riders, like Stephanie Boris, who say they don’t work and are unfair.

"When I was a kid, I didn’t like them when they applied to me," she says. "I don’t think it's fair that it applies to good kids as well as bad kids, when you know it's behavior that ought to be targeted."

Efforts in recent years by council member Wells to toughen the city’s summer curfew have fallen short in the city council, and several members have already said they will not support any new attempts the change the law.

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