MARTA confusion ends in woman’s arrest

On Jan. 15, April Hadley walked through a tunnel from Lenox Square mall into the MARTA Lenox Station. Somehow, she missed two signs that declare: “Buses Only, Violators Will Be Arrested.” Upon entering the station, she saw a MARTA cop and asked for directions. Hadley says it was her first time in the station, and she was confused.

Within minutes, Hadley was handcuffed and sent to jail.

Hadley, a 31-year-old leasing consultant, had left the mall through an exit next to the food court. She recalls asking someone how to get to the MARTA station; the person pointed across the street. Upon crossing, she descended down the curved passageway and claims she didn’t notice the signs denoting paid vs. unpaid or pedestrian vs. non-pedestrian zones.

“I was glad to see [the MARTA officer],” Hadley says. “I needed directions and asked her what way I should take to get home.”

Hadley says the officer asked her if she had any drugs or weapons on her. She says she was surprised by that and admits she became defensive. The officer told her she had entered a bus-only entrance and hadn’t paid the fare. The MARTA police report states: “I saw an unknown female [later identified as April Hadley] walk into the Lenox Transit Station bus loop, paid area, without paying the required fare of $1.75.”

The report also notes that Hadley had $91 dollars in her wallet - plenty to cover the bus fare home, Hadley points out. Hadley says she asked the officer, “Why would I not pay for a toll?”

Though a MARTA spokesperson says the agency hasn’t fielded complaints about the Lenox Station signage, Hadley says her confusion arose from the way the station is set up. When a person walks out of the mall, there is a pedestrian crossing that leads directly into a tunnel feeding into a bus-only area. The actual station entrance and fare booth are up the street, across from a Marriott hotel.

After her night in jail, Hadley was released on her own recognizance. She made her first appearance in court last week; her hearing has been postponed until she hires an attorney.

“I don’t think it’s right that anyone could walk into a train station,” she says, “and get arrested and sent to jail all night for something this ridiculous.”