Metropolitan Transit System officials are investigating a complaint filed this past week by a rider who claims she was singled out and harassed by a San Diego Trolley officer because she is homeless.

Katarina Boudreau and her boyfriend, Gary Arnold, said they were riding the Green Line through Mission Valley when inspectors boarded the train and began requesting tickets, states the complaint.

Both Boudreau and Arnold displayed their tickets, but one of the officers insisted that they “get their dirty stuff off the seat,” the complaint alleges.

Boudreau said she disputed that their bags were dirty, but began moving them anyway because she and her boyfriend were about to exit the trolley. Instead, the officer began poking her in the chest and telling her she was being detained and she was getting a ticket, she said.


The ticket was written under an MTS code that covers a wide range of passenger conduct, including a ban on passengers placing any article on a seat “which would leave grease, oil, paint, dirt or any other substance on such seat.”

At one point, the officer handcuffed Arnold, the complaint says.

“If it were somebody else with a shopping bag or a briefcase, dressed up or whatever, he wouldn’t have targeted us,” said Boudreau, who listed her address on the complaint as the Neil Good Day Center in downtown San Diego. “That’s what makes me the most mad, because it’s not right.”

Spokesman Rob Schupp issued a statement saying the trolley system’s security officers enforce all MTS policies and ordinances.


“MTS is committed to ensuring that no person is excluded from participation in, or denied the benefits of its service,” the statement said. “As with all complaints filed against MTS, we will investigate the incident thoroughly and communicate the results of the investigation to the person filing the complaint.”

Boudreau said in an interview that someone from the trolley called her Wednesday morning to discuss her complaint.

The person told her an initial review of security footage did not confirm that the officer had poked her in the chest, she said. But the same investigator said Boudreau could not see the videotape herself, unless she hires a lawyer, she said.

Boudreau was ordered to appear Oct. 3 in a Kearny Mesa courtroom to answer the charge.


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jeff.mcdonald@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1708 @sdutMcDonald