Fare evader throws bike onto Metro tracks, causes crash, then starts trash fire, police say

WASHINGTON - A man was arrested by Transit Police on Sunday after they say he got into a Metro station without paying, threw a bike onto Metro tracks, causing a crash and also set trash on fire.

Authorities say at around 7 p.m., 50-year-old Demarcus Joseph Graves got into the Minnesota Avenue Station without making an attempt to pay the fare.

They say he then found a LimeBike (a bike share bicycle) on the train platform and threw it onto the tracks for inbound trains.

The bicycle was struck by an arriving Orange Line train about a minute later, police say.

While no one on the train was injured, the crash caused significant damage to the undercarriage of the train.

Metro was forced to single-track around the incident for more than four hours before the train could be moved.

Police say Graves also set a paper to-go box on fire before leaving the train station.

Transit Police say they were able to review video of the incident and were later able to find Graves and arrest him about a quarter mile from the train station.

Graves was taken into custody and charged with felony malicious destruction of property, malicious burning, impeding Metro operations, fare evasion, and open warrants.