Two Latino men were allegedly arrested for manspreading, sitting with knees wide open, thus occupying two seats on May 22 at 12:11am, according to a report released by the Police Reform Organizing Project in New York. This is probably the first time manspreading has led to an arrest and court appearance.
Although, according to the report, the judge said that at the time of the arrest there could not have been many passengers on the train, she nevertheless slapped the two men with an ACD, which means that charges against them will be dropped if they don’t get arrested again for a fixed period of time, the report says.
In January, the Metropolitan Transit Authority rolled out an ad campaign reminding men to “mind the gap” and keep knees closer together while seated on public transport.
Entire blogs have been created to document the culprits who don’t comply. Even actor Tom Hanks was publicly shamed, being called the “new face of manspreading.”
Hanks excused himself, saying that the “train was half empty.” That excuse didn’t work for the two men arrested in May, though.
Robert Gangi, Director of Police Reform Organizing Project (PROP), which compiled the report, says the NYPD is criminalizing a subway etiquette faux pas as an excuse to issue more fines and arrest people, most of whom are poor minorities.
“We think it’s driven by a quota system. There is almost no other rational explanation for why the cops would conduct this kind of arrest unless they are under pressure to meet certain numbers, to meet with their productivity goals,” Gangi told RT’s Maria Portnaya.