Jumping the turnstile will get you a fine. But for a down-on-his-luck Staten Island man, it also got him a job thanks to the care shown by two MTA police officers.
Sangeeth Wijesinghe regularly rides the Staten Island Railway, usually without incident. But last month, MTA police officers Christopher D'Onofrio and Paul Martino caught him jumping the turnstiles at the Tompkinsville station. He was embarrased and apologetic.
"He explained to me right away that he just doesn't have the financial means to pay for a MetroCard for himself and that the last couple of dollars he had on the card, he swiped his wife through," D'Onofrio said.
"He was just genuinely sorry for what he did, and he knew he was wrong," Martino said.
The two officers were moved by his sincerity. They said fare-beaters typically are sorry they are caught, but that Sangeeth seemed full of remorse. So the officers walked the recent arrival from Sri Lanka to a convenience store, also managed by a Sri Lankan.
"I thought of my friend who works at the Bolla Market right on the corner," D'Onofrio said. "I called him up. I asked him if he happened to be hiring."
Sangeeth's bad day suddenly turned brighter. He was quickly offered a job as a cashier.
"I make now good money," he said. "It's good. I like work here."
The officers say they stop by the Bolla Market regularly to get cups of coffee and to check up on Sangeeth. These days, they're happy to report that he's fully stocking his MetroCard and covering his rent.
The manager of the market, Dushomantha Premasiri, has known D'Onofrio for several years and said he's glad the officers chatted up the fare-beater enough to find a way to help him.
"The people need to know, there are police officers who help people a lot in this community. But unfortunately, our community don't see what police officers doing," Premasiri said.
The goodwill of the two officers did not extend to sparing Sangeeth from a fare-beating summons. But with his new job, plus overtime, he says he's happy to pay up.