Erik Meier estimates that in six years of singing and playing guitar in the subway, police have written him a summons around ten times, and each time his ticket has been dismissed. When two NYPD officers approached him on the 2nd Avenue station platform last Thursday night and told him to pack his gear, they also asked him if he'd been in trouble before. "I told her that all my tickets had been thrown out, and she said, 'Oh you like to fight your tickets, huh? We'll give you something to fight for tonight.' "

Meier, 27, was arrested shortly after 7 p.m. for trespassing, and violating MTA rule 1050.7(c), which prohibits "sleep[ing] or doz[ing] where such activity may be hazardous to such person or to others."

Usually that offense would warrant just a summons, but Meier says he didn't have any ID on him because his wallet had been stolen the week before, an issue that came up when police ticketed him for "blocking traffic" at the Lorimer stop a few days earlier.

"I didn't have my ID and they were going to hand me extra charges... But instead of letting the other cops write me more tickets, [one officer] asked me if someone could prove my identity." Meier says he called his girlfriend, who vouched for him, and he was released.

On Thursday night, the police were less inclined to believe him.

"I explained to them twice that I had someone who could vouch for me, my wallet had been stolen the week before, I told them that I had proof of that." Meier says he was ignored, and spent the night in jail. His hearing before a judge lasted two minutes, and he was finally released at 11:30 a.m. the next day.

"When I came out of court there was a cop there shaking his head, and he said, 'Whoever did this was probably having a bad night.' He tried to make a joke of it, but I'm not laughing."

An NYPD spokesperson confirmed that Meier was "playing a guitar with an amplification device and singing into a microphone which was audible to others in the subway system," but Meier wasn't charged for using an amplification device on a subway platform, which is against the MTA's rules.

"I wasn't actually read rights or told what I had been doing wrong," he says. "It's a risk we take, but I don't think it warrants 16 hours detainment."

In a statement, Busk NY, an organization that advocates for the rights of subway buskers, called Meier's arrest "the latest in a string of incidents of police harassment of legal subway performers."

Meier, who lives in Ridgewood and plays in the band Bird Courage, said he's planning on contesting the charges.

"Any other busker, I totally support [their music], but I play more a little bit more gentle music. I'm not singing cover, top 40 songs," Meier says. "Carefully crafted, gentle music. And I think it's ridiculous. I understand [using an amp] isn't right, but I also don't think that it warrants jail time."