And on a related note, just in case anybody hasn't read this yet, here it is:
----- Original Message -----
From: "Gene Poon" <
[email protected]>
To: "All Aboard" <
[email protected]>; "Amtrak Fans" <
[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, August 27, 2005 13:05
Subject: [Amtrak] Alleged Amtrak Police Misconduct
> (Steve Barry is Managing Editor of Railroad and Railfan magazine. The
> story will appear in the next issue of the magazine. If this is all
> true, there could be very serious consequences for Amtrak and the Amtrak
> Police Department. He posted this to another discussion board, and it
> is being reposted here)
> ============================================================
>
>
>
>> August 23, 2005
>
>> My biggest fear, in recounting what happened to me August 19, 2005 in New
>> Orleans, is that people will have a very difficult time believing me. I am
>> sure some folks will be sure I am embellishing the facts, exaggerating, or
>> outright lying. None of this is the case. Everything I state here happened as
>> I say it.
>
>> I am a 60-year-old, recently retired pharmaceutical rep, with three grown sons.
>> I have a particular fondness for trains, and riding on Amtrak. Friday morning,
>> August 19, I departed Houston on the Sunset Limited, bound for Pensacola,
>> Florida for a short vacation. The train had a layover of several hours in New
>> Orleans, so I thought I would kill some time taking photographs of the terminal
>> and Amtrak facilities. I had taken a lot of photographs along the way, and I
>> have started a photographic album intended to document the Sunset Limited all
>> the way across Louisiana. There is no way to know how much longer Amtrak will
>> run this train.
>
>> It is important to know that there are no signs on the platform forbidding
>> passengers from walking down the platform into the area beyond where the lead
>> engine would be, and no signs that prohibit passengers from taking photographs.
>> There are "No Trespassing" signs on the gate to the Amtrak maintenance facility,
>> on Earhart, but they are not visible on the platform. Two female Amtrak
>> employees drove by and asked me what I was doing. I said I was taking
>> photographs, and that rail photography was a hobby of mine. They admonished me
>> to "watch out for the Amtrak police." I did not take that warning seriously,
>> because I was not doing anything wrong. I joked that maybe "they would beat me
>> up, so I could file a multi-million dollar lawsuit." That, being an idea so
>> ridiculous, anyone would know it was meant in a humorous vein. I walked a
>> little further down where I encountered a young guy, who was also an Amtrak
>> employee. He inquired as to why I was photographing the switcher, and I
>> explained to him that I was just a railfan, and I wanted photos of the Amtrak
>> equipment. I asked if I could walk further down the platform to take a couple
>> more photographs. He said he preferred I wait until he could get someone to
>> accompany me down there. I said "fine", and I waited. By then the two female
>> employees had returned and we were all standing around talking and waiting for
>> whoever was supposed to come to see about my request. After a while an Amtrak
>> policeman arrived. I figured he would say I could, or I could not go further
>> down the platform. When he got out of his car, I could see he was already in a
>> highly excited and agitated state. He was not in the mood to dialogue. He
>> explained I was trespassing on private property (remember, no signs), and was
>> not supposed to be taking photos. I was not about to argue with him, or be the
>> least bit confrontational, knowing the reputation of New Orleans police, but
>> this was an AMTRAK policeman, and I was an AMTRAK passenger. I merely inquired
>> if this was not public property, since Amtrak is a publicly supported entity.
>> At that he told me to turn around, and he handcuffed me.
>
>
>> I naturally protested that I had done nothing wrong. But he was determined to
>> handle things the way he had, I believe, decided to handle them before he ever
>> showed up. He took me up to his office, and contacted someone, who I assume was
>> his superior. He gave the person an embellished, and almost completely false
>> account of what happened. For instance, he stated I had said, "This is public
>> property, and I can be here if I want to be." I begged the policeman not to
>> take me off the train, but he continued to repeat that I was "going to jail." I
>> really got upset at this point and insisted he let me talk to someone in the
>> Amtrak office. After asking him over and over to let me speak with someone, he
>> finally put an agent on the phone. I told agent at the terminal I had done
>> nothing wrong, and to please come get me out of this mess. The agent said he
>> could not override the policeman, and generally conveyed the attitude that he
>> did not give a damn what my predicament was. The policeman ran my ID, and, of
>> course, it came back that I had never been arrested, and that I had no criminal
>> record. He was unfazed by that information, and instructed the agent to remove
>> my bag from the sleeper room I had occupied. In the stress of the moment I
>> forgot about my large hanging bag that was in the lower level rack. It made it
>> to Orlando, and I will get it back this week.
>
>
>> As we were driving out of the terminal area, on the way to the Orleans Parish
>> Prison, he pointed out the "No Trespassing" sign on the chain link gate, which
>> is not visible to any passenger on the platform of the terminal. Upon arrival
>> at the jail, I was processed in, and at that point the Amtrak officer committed
>> a gross violation of procedure, by keeping my wallet, camera, and a pocket knife
>> that the jailer had taken out of my pocket. This was to have major
>> ramifications, later, when I finally had the opportunity to bail myself out of
>> the facility. He had also erased certain photographs in my digital camera,
>> while up in his office, a violation of my civil liberties. While waiting for
>> him to show up I had photographed two A-10's that were flying over. He wanted
>> to know why I had photographed the A-10's. I responded, "Because I'm a pilot."
>> I do hold a private pilot's license, but my response seemed to stun him
>> slightly, and he moved on.
>
>
>> The Orleans Parish Prison is one of the worst jails in the country. The jailers
>> there treat all inmates with contempt, disdain, and do everything they can to
>> make you feel there is no light at the end of tunnel. My charge, incidentally,
>> was criminal trespass. You cannot bond out until you are "processed." For
>> hours I watched other inmates come and go, while my name was never called.
>> Earlier, in an odd difference in procedure, the watch captain said, "O.K.
>> Bourgeois, go to that window." I thought I had it made, but when I got there,
>> the first thing they wanted was a photo I.D. Too bad, it was in my bag at the
>> Amtrak police office. So, I had to be put through a nationwide fingerprint
>> search, which added more time to my stay. I went in the jail at 6:30 p.m. on
>> Friday, slept (what little I could) on the concrete jail floor, instead of the
>> viewliner bed I had on the Sunset Limited, and at four o'clock Saturday
>> afternoon I was still in jail. I could have been out at 11 a.m. of the same
>> day, but with no money, or debit card (remember, they were taken from me) I
>> could not bond out. So, along with about 60 other inmates, I was put in the
>> orange suit and moved to the big prison, with the big cell block, just like you
>> see in the movies.
>
>
>> By the grace of God I had done one thing right. I had managed to get a phone
>> book and write down the number of my cousin, who lives in New Orleans. All
>> phone calls out had to be collect, and you had to have the number. I can
>> remember exactly two phone numbers in my head, one being my brother who lives in
>> Lake Charles. I was finally able to get in touch with my sister-in-law, and
>> she made numerous phone calls for me; most importantly to my friends in
>> Pensacola, who by now, were frantic. Not to mention my youngest son, who lives
>> here in Houston, who was sent into a tailspin. My cousin, who had been gone
>> when I first called, was home now, and around 6 p.m., she came down and paid my
>> bond. In the manner of doing things at the Orleans Parish Prison, I walked out
>> of the jail at 12:30 a.m. Sunday morning. I recovered my belongings the next
>> day at the terminal.
>
>
>> My vacation I had looked forward to was destroyed. My friends and family had
>> been traumatized, as only you can be when you cannot account for the whereabouts
>> of someone. The lasting psychological effect of this is hard to predict. I
>> have been quite depressed since I came home. The over whelming fact is, I
>> COMITTED NO CRIME. You cannot arrest someone for trespassing, when there is not
>> even a sign saying "no trespassing," and you cannot arrest someone for taking
>> photographs. The entire amount of time that the officer spent with me on the
>> platform could not have been over one minute. What motivated him to arrest me,
>> when he could have easily said, "You cannot be here-go back to the train," I
>> cannot say. What really bothers me is he obviously felt he could get away with
>> this gross example of false arrest, and deprivation of civil liberties. That
>> points to something rotten in the system, itself. Combine that with the total
>> disregard of my welfare by the Amtrak agent, and there is ample room for an
>> investigation, and action to be taken. The officer should be terminated, for
>> sure, and following him out the door should be the agent. The officer's
>> superior who allowed him to perpetrate this outrage, should also have to answer.
>
>
>> There is no stone I will leave unturned to get justice for this. 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.
>
>> James Craig Bourgeois