A Metro track maintenance employee has been fired after being charged with being drunk in public and assaulting two police officers at the Pentagon City Metro station, a WMATA spokesperson has confirmed. The Washington Examiner first reported tonight that the employee “was terminated, effective June 30.”
The incident happened on Thursday, June 10. ARLnow.com reported exclusively that the employee was pepper sprayed and taken into custody by Metro Transit Police after allegedly struggling with officers. At one point, an empty glass bottle was pulled out of the man’s pocket.
Officers first confronted the man after he “appeared to be unsteady on his feet around 5:15 p.m.,” Metro said in a statement after the incident. He had been an employee with Metro since 2006.
Like any union member fired by Metro, the man will have an opportunity to file a grievance to appeal the decision. Two fired Metro bus drivers were reinstated last month after filing grievances.