To the editor:

I was surprised to read Heather Kollenberg’s letter to the editor about her $102 ticket for running on Inverness Drive. It surprised me because Thursday I got a $102 ticket for jaywalking! I did cross the street when I shouldn’t have, I admit, but the incident had no angry people screaming or people laying on their horns. I didn’t make anybody have to slow down to my knowledge.

Then, safely on the other side of the street, a cop came up and began to scold me for doing something he obviously never has done. For some reason, during the course of his scolding, the cop became angry with me. I’m not entirely sure why he got mad all of a sudden, but I think it was the fact that every question he asked he already knew the answer to and my terrible lack of spontaneity left the cop ready to dish out some justice.

I don’t want to accuse anybody of any sort of profiling, but after the cop stopped me the fact that I’m 18, I had a guitar in my hand, and was sporting a Che Guevara shirt at the time left the chance of me leaving the situation without a debt to society a little less than zero. One thing that cheered me up was watching Channel 6 over the weekend and seeing the lovely view of the 600 block of Massachusetts Street from City Hall and also seeing the couple of people who jaywalk every minute. It’s good to have a system that works.

Patrick Griffith

Lawrence