Amtrak arrests Sunset Limited passenger for trespassing-I am outraged!

[tstage]

It's often said that "there is always two sides to every story". Somehow I think this is one of those times.

Tom

[DigitalGriffin]

With all the terrorist bombings these days, I guess Amtrak employees are a little jumpy. Can't say that I blame them.

But giving a 60 year old man a hard time is just a little on the extreme side. (Providing this story is true.) Remember there are always two sides to each story.

[csmith9474]

Be afraid; Be very afraid...

[trainboyH16-44]

http://www.trains.com/Content/Dynamic/Articles/000/000/006/150qzoih.asp
NEW ORLEANS - Amtrak’s no trespassing policy came into sharp focus last month when a passenger on the eastbound Sunset Limited got off the train in New Orleans Saturday, August 19 and walked up the platform to where a locomotive was idling. He wanted to take a photograph of it. Stopped by an Amtrak police officer, he was arrested, booked and spent the night in a city jail. The train departed without him.

The passenger, James Bourgeois, a 60-year-old retired pharmaceutical salesman from Houston, Texas, en route to Pensacola, Fla., says he didn’t do anything to cause his arrest. An Amtrak spokesman said the arresting Amtrak police officer said Bourgeois was belligerent and refused to leave. Bourgeois denies it.

Bourgeois says that while walking up the platform, two female Amtrak employees drove by and asked him what he was doing and admonished him to “watch out for the Amtrak police.”

“I did not take that warning seriously because I was not doing anything wrong,” Bourgeois later recounted. “I joked that maybe ‘they would beat me up, so I could file a multi-million dollar lawsuit.’ ”

Bourgeois says he walked a little farther up the platform to take a few photos when he encountered another Amtrak employee who asked why he was there. Asking if he could walk farther down the platform, he says the employee asked him to wait where he was until someone could accompany him.

While waiting, Bourgeois says the two female Amtrak employees he spoke with previously had returned and the three were chatting when an Amtrak police officer drove up and explained that he was trespassing.

“I merely inquired if this was not public property, since Amtrak is a publicly supported entity,” said Bourgeois. It was then, he says, the Amtrak policeman told him he was under arrest.

Handcuffed and driven to the Amtrak police office, Bourgeois says the officer concocted an almost completely false account of what had occurred. Running Bourgeois’ identification turned up nothing. During the ride to the Orleans Parish Prison, the officer, Bourgeois said, pointed to the “No Trespassing” sign on the chainlink fence, which he claims was not visible from the passenger platform.

Booked and processed at the city jail for criminal trespass, Bourgeois says the Amtrak officer confiscated his wallet, his digital camera and a pocketknife. He also says the officer erased the Amtrak photos he had in his camera and was surprised to find a photo of a pair of Air Force A-10s that had flown by. Bourgeois explained that he liked airplanes because he was a pilot.

The New Orleans police wanted to see his identification, but Bourgeois said the Amtrak officer, who had left the premises, had previously confiscated it. Allowed to make three telephone calls, he called his brother and sister-in-law who lives in Lake Charles, La. His sister-in-law made calls to the people waiting for Bourgeois in Pensacola. A cousin came to the jail to pay his bond. He finally left jail at 12:30 a.m. Sunday and recovered his belongings the next day at the terminal.

“There is no stone I will leave unturned to get justice for this,” Bourgeois says. “As I sat in jail my most consistent thought, after ‘I have to get out of here,” was ‘I have to make this count for something.’ This should never happen to anyone, again.”

Amtrak stands by its police officer that Bourgeois was belligerent and refused to leave, thereby giving him no choice but to arrest Bourgeois, even though he was just taking photos.

“We don’t arrest people for taking photos,” the spokesman said. “We arrest people for trespassing.”

Bourgeois says he does not remember the names of any of the Amtrak personnel he was speaking to at the time of his arrest.

I can't believe it! He should have had more warning, don't you think?
What is America coming to these days?[:(]
I hope that in 10 years, you are still allowed to take pictures of trains at all, since this does seem to be the direction it's heading.
If Canada starts to be like this, I don't know what I'll do.

I did have a minor run-in with a railway police officer in Winnepeg, which I think was a little unfair. I was on the right side of a chain link fence, when I was told by someone on the other side of the fence (in uniform) that I couldn't be there. I asked if this wasn't public property, since I was not past the no trespassing sign, which was on the fence, but I was still told to leave, which I did. I hope that it doesnot get any worse.
Trainboy