Amtrak passengers subdue armed man

[AlanB]

Here's a story that sounds more like it should have occured on an airplane. Thankfully no one was hurt.

Passengers aboard an Amtrak train apparently took matters into their own hands Sunday when a man wielding a plastic knife threatened to kill them while screaming profanities against America.

You can read the full story from the Longview News Journal here, with thanks to Prodigy's On Track On Line for pointing the story out.

 

[Viewliner]

Here's a story that sounds more like it should have occured on an airplane.  Thankfully no one was hurt.  

Passengers aboard an Amtrak train apparently took matters into their own hands Sunday when a man wielding a plastic knife threatened to kill them while screaming profanities against America.

You can read the full story from the Longview News Journal here, with thanks to Prodigy's On Track On Line for pointing the story out.

Link doesn't work, Click Here.

 

[Amfleet]

Yes, luckly no one was hurt. From it's location (Big Snady, Texas no clue where that is) it happened on either the Heartland Flyer, Texas Eagle, or Sunset Limited.

 

[AlanB]

I fixed the link, so it works.

 

[Amtrak Watcher]

Big Sandy is on the Texas Eagle route between Dallas and Little Rock. The train does not stop there -- unless, it seems, somebody is acting like a jerk. The train normally stops at Longview, which is not far away.

 

[Steve4031]

They should have tossed his hind end of the train while it was going over a high bridge at 79 mph. Screw his rights.

 

[Amtrak Watcher]

If this kind of thing ever happens on a train (or plane) I'm on, they will never find the body. No reading of rights, no calls to 9-1-1, no legal hocus-pocus.

 

[battalion51]

Actually all Conductors have the right to arrest someone, most don't exercise the right. Usually if a disturbance occurs, isolate them in a car or sleeping room, put em off at the next station. If they are really violent, we've got cell phones and we know are grade crossings, cops meet us at a crossing.

 

[jccollins]

They should have tossed his hind end of the train while it was going over a high bridge at 79 mph. Screw his rights.

Well, while this would be the most preferable, I'm sure we would never be able to "legalize" it. (It's what I would want to do, though). It should be legal for the crew to have the train stopped immediately (yes, even if it is out in the middle of the desert 100 miles from the nearest town) and throw the person off there for "terrorist" threats such as these.

Bush might not want to give Amtrak the money it deserves, but I be he wouldn't think twice about signing a law allowing Amtrak to throw foreign terrorists off in the middle of nowhere! B)

 

[AlanB]

Bush might not want to give Amtrak the money it deserves, but I be he wouldn't think twice about signing a law allowing Amtrak to throw foreign terrorists off in the middle of nowhere! B)

Hmm, do you suppose that he might consider paying Amtrak a reward for each terrorist captured?

Say maybe 1.2 billion for each one.

 

[tp49]

Better yet let's just sneak a $2 Billion appropriation for Amtrak in the same bill in fine print at the bottom so the President won't see it. He'll be sure to grant it this way

 

[Steve4031]

They should have tossed his hind end of the train while it was going over a high bridge at 79 mph.  Screw his rights.

Well, while this would be the most preferable, I'm sure we would never be able to "legalize" it. (It's what I would want to do, though). It should be legal for the crew to have the train stopped immediately (yes, even if it is out in the middle of the desert 100 miles from the nearest town) and throw the person off there for "terrorist" threats such as these.

Bush might not want to give Amtrak the money it deserves, but I be he wouldn't think twice about signing a law allowing Amtrak to throw foreign terrorists off in the middle of nowhere! B)

But stopping the train to put the scoundrel off might delay traffic on the RR. I dont think a terrorist's life is worth the money that BNSF or UP might lose from freight trains that are also held up behind the stopped Amtrak train!

 

[Amtrak Watcher]

Is there a way to simply hurl him off the front of the train without slowing down?

 

[AlanB]

Is there a way to simply hurl him off the front of the train without slowing down?

Well sure there is, just open the door and toss him out. Of course then he'll probably sue Amtrak for his injuries. :angry:

 

[WoodenMike]

Bush might not want to give Amtrak the money it deserves, but I be he wouldn't think twice about signing a law allowing Amtrak to throw foreign terrorists off in the middle of nowhere!

Uh, we don't want 'em in Utah.