TriMet transit police and fare enforcement officers violated Oregon's constitution by stopping, citing and arresting a David Douglas School Board member in March during a fare evasion sting.

A Multnomah County Circuit Court judge on Friday ruled that Ana del Rocio was "stopped and seized without individualized suspicion" on March 13 at an Old Town Chinatown MAX station. Del Rocio, whose legal name is Rosa Valderrama, was arrested and charged with evading fare and giving false information to a police officer.

Read: The ruling

Judge John Wittmayer's six-page opinion appears to throw TriMet's fare-enforcement strategy, particularly large stings where all passengers are indiscriminately stopped and asked for proof of fare, into doubt.

Mat dos Santos, the ACLU of Oregon's legal director, called the ruling a "tremendous victory" and predicted it would have wide-spread implications for the transit agency and its passengers. "It confirms what we have believed," he said in an interview, "which is that these dragnet searches violate the rights of all people that are stopped."

The Marion County District Attorney's Office, which tried the case, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It's unclear whether the agency would appeal the judge's ruling.

In a statement, TriMet said it was "evaluating the judge's opinion and determining next steps."

"TriMet does say that fares are required on all our vehicles," the agency said, "We will continue fare enforcement."

But it was not immediately clear how those fare enforcement missions would continue, or in what nature they would occur going forward. MAX platforms don't have turnstiles like other transit systems, where law enforcement officers can observe passengers hopping over barriers or otherwise evading fare.

TriMet has taken steps in the past year to decriminalize fare evasion, a move championed by groups like the ACLU and transit advocacy organizations as a step in the right direction. As of July, fare evaders now can opt for community service and face reduced fines.

The agency issues about 20,000 citations for fare evasions each year, and its estimated fare evasion rate was 13.1 percent last year.

Noah Horst, del Rocio's attorney, said the ruling was based on a "careful constitutional analysis."

"The court's order confirms that for years, transit dependent Oregonians have been unconstitutionally stopped and subjected to harsh criminal penalties - including lengthy sentences - all for not having proof of a $2.50 payment," Horst said in a statement. "The constitutional requirement that fare inspectors have reasonable suspicion that a particular rider does not have their fare before stopping them is important because it prevents unequal and biased fare enforcement."

Del Rocio was one of the first passengers who stepped off the train March 13, and she immediately encountered a fare enforcement officer. The 32-year-old, according to the judge's ruling, was holding her cellphone when she exited the train, and the fare officer watched del Rocio activate an unused ticket on her cell phone "in her presence."

The incident escalated, as the fare officer called over a transit officer, who asked for her identification and her legal name.

In court documents, del Rocio said she was scared during the encounter. "I obviously don't look like a white person, so the possibility of me being racially profiled was definitely on my mind," she said, according to court transcripts. "So being asked where I was from, being asked for my IDs and my address, because of the way they were speaking to me and the way they were engaging with me, I didn't feel safe having these strangers know where my kids and I sleep at night.

Dos Santos said he viewed the case as an example of prosecutorial overstep. "There was no public safety benefit to prosecuting this case," he said.

-- Andrew Theen

atheen@oregonian.com

503-294-4026

@andrewtheen