AP

In light of the stupendous video that recently surfaced showing a drunken clown throwing a hissy fit on the Red Line, our esteemed TBD colleague Paul Volpe asked us what a conscientious rider is supposed to do when there's an unruly passenger on board a Metro train. Or, in the case of the recent Metro brawl, 70-odd unruly passengers. To be honest, we didn't know. So we put the question to WMATA spokeswoman Cathy Asato.

According to Asato, the civic-minded soul has three options. The first is to find the intercom at the end of the Metro car. Pushing the red button puts you in direct contact with the train's driver, who will want to know which car there's a problem on. The driver can call in transit police and stop the train at the next station if necessary.

The downside to the intercom? It's anything but discreet, and there's a decent chance that raving lunatic will see you ratting him out in a very public manner. That leads to option No. 2, which is to call 202-962-2121, the direct line to Metro Transit Police. That phone number can often be seen inside Metro stations or heard over the public address system, but, as Asato notes, you won't find it on any Metro cars right now. That may change in the future. "We are in the process of making more signs and making that number more visible," she says. In the meantime, it's not a bad idea to put it in your phone.

And lastly, there's always the 911 option. But many of us would hesitate to call 911 just because a guy is flexing and acting like a jackass, even if he does suggest the potential for violence.

In the end, Asato says, the route you choose might depend on the situation. "If I saw a drunk passenger, I would notify the driver," she says. "But if it was criminal activity, the operator would immediately call that into the police dispatch," in which case you may as well let transit police know directly through their communications line.

Video bonus: Check out the slow-mo remix in the comments thread over at Unsuck DC Metro.