Amtrak gonna get sued again . . .

[TexasTimbers]

Unbelievable.

[limbrat]

They will put you off a bus too.

[thurlow]

Around "here", the po-leece would'a shot him.  In the last few days................Undercover cops killed an unarmed  12 year old boy who was walking near an apartment complex in West Memphis.  Arkansas state trooper got 90 days for killing an unarmed/mentally disabled man.  Not 3 miles from where I'm sitting, 2 city cops shot and killed a fellow who didn't stop for their seat-belt checkpoint.  The city and cops have been sued for 20 million;  hope I get to sit on the jury.  Time after time, local cops kill some innocent person and walk away from it.

[olyman]

apparently--the patriot act--has a provision in there--that if things blow up in the usa--the cops can come and get your arms--now---how would you like to have any one of those cops come to your door for your firarms-------uh huh!!!!!

[Radar67]

Olyman, that is a big negative. There is no provision that states our firearms can be confiscated. Check it out here Partriot Act

Stew

[Fraxinus]

On one of our Florida train trips, the train stopped for no apparent reason in this little town in North Carolina.  In a few minutes a bunch of cops came walking through our car to the one in front.   After a few more minutes passed, the train started moving again.  We could see some young people who had been on the train standing there next to the tracks arguing with the cops.  Tough noogies on them.  There were a bunch of twenty-somethings on that train acting drunk and foolish and, IMO, even more of them should have been put off because that didn't end them acting foolishly.
AMTRAK may well be sued for this but it doesn't sound like they did anything wrong if you can believe what you read in the story.

[isawlogs]

Letting someone off in da middle of nowhere sure dont sound right to me ....  :-\

[SwampDonkey]

I'd put them off in a nice spruce barony bog with lots of hungry deer flies.  I know the VIA rail line from Edmundston to Moncton  had quite few of these for miles along the tracks. ;D :D

PS, I never read the story in the link.

[beenthere]

Appears the story was a fella acting drunk, but instead had a medical problem...lack of medicine (diabetic shock).

If unruly, and uncontrollable, and on a train in the middle of nowhere,  ... should they have tied him up, just let him go and bother the passengers, or have a "holding room" like a cell to lock someone up ??

Seems a dilema, and not a pleasant task regardless of what one should expect the train conductor to do.  :-\ :

[isawlogs]

 I know what your saying , I dont have an answer to what should be done , just saying that dropping an elderly off like that sure dont seam right .... At the very least hold um till the proper autherity comes to take care of um . Not leave um there expecting him to sit tight and wait to be picked up ..........   

[Ron Wenrich]

I wonder if they could smell alcohol on his breath.  Seems to me that if someone's acting drunk, and don't smell like alcohol, there's something else going on. 

[WH_Conley]

His breath should of had a sweet smell. Someone could possibly confuse the different smells.

[TexasTimbers]

That sweet smell comes from very high blood glucose levels (BGL). Hypoglycemia which is what this man probably had is the condition of having very low BGL, and is what causes one to appear drunk. He probably he took too much insulin, or did not eat soon enough after medication, or ate but did not eat enough carbs to keep his BGL up. This man was newly diagnosed with diabtetes and it takes a while to learn how to keep your BGL stabilized.

But IMO, even if the guy was falling down drunk and stank of alcohol, as long as he was not a threat to the passengers I don't see how they can just dump someone out in the wilderness. He should have been arrested for PI if he had been drunk but dumped out in the wild is unjustifiable unless the passengers and employees are unable to place someone who is a threat into submission.

I just think it is an absolute last resort. If this had happened to one of your family members I bet that you would be livid. Not speaking to any specific FFers just speaking in general.

[beenthere]

kevjay
He wasn't dumped in the wilderness, at least as 'wilderness' might be defined.    He was left off in a town just west of Flagstaff. The police were picking him up when he ran into the forest (for some, that is wilderness) and they didn't have reason to chase after him. There is likely a lot more to the story, than what is in the brief news releases.
Sounds like he was a nuisance to the passengers, and they made the effort to remove him. Calling the police was a way to pass him on to some help. For some reason, after they did find him in 4 days, he went home.
I don't blame someone for being upset. If I was a passenger, I'd be glad that the officials rid the train of the guy. If it was my brother, or father, or son.....I'd be looking into what happened.. but it would be with more information than what was in the reporters column and what we have seen available, that is for sure. 

[TexasTimbers]

Those are good points bt. I haven't read the article since I posted it. I forgot he ran away. But if he was disoriented and confused (I been there, beenthere ;) ) he probably did think he was in trouble. If I was black and half my wits were gone (I am white with half my wits gone ;) ) and a bunch of white cops were coming at me I would probably run too. :D

I still think it is a last resort to put someone off a train even in a town, even if they are being a "nusciance" but perhaps as you intimate, this is more to the story and they were in fact, exersizing their "last resort".