And this Mets fan was an off-duty police officer. The story comes from the NY Daily News:
Officer Eduardo Cornejo had a legit ticket to the Mets’ sad 6-3 drubbing by the Cincinnati Reds, but ballpark management confronted him once they realized he was stretched out in a seat better than the one he had purchased.
“He was in a section he wasn’t supposed to be,” Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said. “They asked him to leave. He wouldn’t. [A] supervisor asked him to leave. He wouldn’t. The uniformed police sergeant asked him to leave. He wouldn’t, and he was arrested as a result.”
Seat hopping can be a contentious topic, kind of like what an adult is supposed to do with a foul ball.
I’m of the belief that if you bought a specific seat, you should probably sit there. If you decide you want to sit in a clearly empty seat in a better section, and you think you can get away with it, whatever, go for it. But if someone comes back with tickets to that seat, apologize and leave without causing any problems.
Officer Cornejo never would’ve been arrested if he would’ve just acknowledged that he was in the wrong seat and moved back to where his legit ticket designated him to sit. There’s nothing left for the usher, supervisor or uniformed police sergeant to do but physically remove him from the seat. Legally, he’s trespassing at that point and they have every right to arrest the uncooperative ‘patron’.
Some fans are hoity-toity about seat hoppers and they have a valid point when those like Officer Cornejo become a distraction, devaluing their experience, in addition to making them feel like suckers for paying high ticket prices when they could’ve just bought $2 bleacher seats and snuck down. Of course, better ushers could prevent this practice from happening altogether.
