Join the discussion on the following article:
Michigan man charged after attacking Amtrak conductor, passengers
A news story I read on AOL Saturday night (12-6) indicated there was one fatality in this incident. Can anyone confirm this?
Will this mean Amtrak passengers will have to endure full body scans by Dept, of Homeland Security like at airports before boarding trains? I sure hope not.
Mr. Hodges: Will this mean Amtrak passengers will have to endure full body scans by Dept, of Homeland Security like at airports before boarding trains? I sure hope not.
I hope not as well.
Yes, life has its risks. The attacker could have just as easily attacked people in Walmart or on the street.
Mr. Hodges: there were no deaths. There were some inconsistencies in the number of men and women attacked, but the victims did total four, one serious. One was an Amtrak employee. According to an article released today, the attacker’s sister maintains he was suffering from hallucinations as a result of PTSD.
This story reminds me of an incident in May 1980 at the Amtrak station in New London CT. I was waiting for a train to Boston on a Sat. evening. Suddenly, a police car drove up and the officer called out “Watch out, there is a nut with a gun on this train coming in; better go inside the station” or words to that effect. When the train pulled in, the conductor was in the first vestibule, clutching his chest and pointing rearward. I clearly saw a young man with long, stringy hair standing in the aisle in the second coach with a silver pistol in his hand. He had shot and killed a young female passenger with a small child. The cops stormed on board and captured him. As they dragged him down the platform, with his arms pinned behind his back he said “Hey man, take it easy”. It seems that he had been causing trouble earlier in the day in one of the CT cities to the west and the police ended the problem by putting him on the train without patting him down. The conductor survived. The train left about 2 hours later. It was a sickening experience. He was a drughead with violent tendencies, a real creep.
Why! why! do we keep trying to save everybody… Now the lawyers get involved… I know there will be more to follow… But give the taxpayers a break… The cost of prisons, Its getting expensive
Maybe one Amtrak employee should carry a concealed weapon?
You’d need Universal Concealed Carry so someone with such a weapon could travel legally among the various jurisdictions. Does anyone know if an Amtrak station is considered to be Federal property? Guns are prohibited thereon, so if that’s the case, then that law would have to changed, as well.
Mr. Salters from Massachusetts, was this train of which you speak (on which the gun incident in 1980 took place) the Merchants Limited?
http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=158262 (read NH2060’s comment [the second comment on that thread])
One of the pleasures of traveling b y train is that, currently, there s no frisking of every passenger.
To- John T. Laszek, Maryland. I tried to use your link, but got a “Dude, you’re lost” message from railroad.net, so I was unable to read the post. The incident happend on Saturday, May 31, 1980. The train was indeed the “Merchants Limited”. We finally left New London about 11PM and arrived at South Station about 1 AM, routed over the Dorchester branch via Uphams Corner due to track work on the main line. There was no “Owl” service on the MBTA subways at that time, so I missed the last Red Line train by a matter of a few minutes and had to take an expensive taxi ride home, thanks to that useless bum on the train. This info is from my trip log.
Here’s the thread again
http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=158262&p=1306824#p1306824
and NH2860 linked on that thread the following. Hope it works…
motor
Alternate transportation? Why couldn’t the train proceed after the perpetrator was apprehended, the injured taken to the hospital, and the mess cleaned up? They apparently continued the trip in 1980.
http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=158262&p=1306824#p1306824 worked for me this morning. I don’t know what you did wrong, Ron.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1346&dat=19800602&id=nKROAAAAIBAJ&sjid=I_sDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5806,855292 worked too this morning, FYI.
I’m just thankful nobody was killed. As to scanning and searching, if much more of this happens you can bet on it.
Send the man to Jacktown for his final train ride and throw away the key after they lock him up.
Re: TSA body searches prior to boarding AMTRAK trains.
It would be extremely difficult to deliberately crash a train into a public building except at a stub end terminal. Plus the perp would have to somehow gain control of the locomotive or control cab. Dispatch could divert the train, or in case of electrics, given enough time the power could be killed.