Video: US transport security asks disabled man to ‘prove it’

Security officers who patrol San Diego’s public transport system seem to prize the letter of the law over its spirit. A video that has gone viral in the United States shows an officer confiscating a transit pass from a man in a wheelchair. The reason? He was not carrying any proof of his disability.

Joey Canales, the man in question, turned on his phone camera and recorded the scene.

Canales told FRANCE 24 what happened:

I was at the trolley station, along with another friend in a wheelchair. We had just helped a third friend, who is paraplegic, get onto the trolley. We were stopped by the officer, who asked for our transit cards. We told him we were just leaving, but he explained that anyone on the premises needed to have transit cards. We have discounted transit cards that are available to people with disabilities, which we showed him. But he also wanted written proof that we indeed had disabilities. My friend had this on him; I did not. So the officer confiscated my transit card.

It's obvious I have a disability. I have no hard feelings against the officer who stopped us; he was following orders. But this policy goes against common sense. The transit authority should seriously consider changing it.

http://observers.france24.com/content/20150414-police-transit-wheelchair-proof-disability