I agree with Selector. It’s pretty cool that you’re being the bigger guy and not going for blood.
I agree wholeheartly. I am not surprised that you got off, all though, I am bit surpised that they called you. Have to give them a lot of credit for that, proof that cooler heads can prevail. Everyone made mistakes that day and glad to see that everyone figured out, as you pointed out, no harm, no foul. Ia m happy for you and thanks for update, gives me alot of hope.
Your action, or maybe your stance on taking no action against them, I belive was the best thing you could have done for you, but mostly, for the next guy, and the next, and the next…pressing charges and making a stink will only bring on more trouble and problems for the next poor guy who got lost, or didnt see a sign and made, a honest innocent mistake.
Lets face it, things are differet now then they were on Sept 10th. But we need to keep the Us vs. Them mentality. By you taking the stance of, “hey no sweat, thanks for the call”, helps to keep our people on the Us side, and keeps us from geting grouped into the Them side.
Props to you man.
That’s good to hear.
Phillip, You have a good attitude. And you are off my prayer list for now. Keep on truckin’ er… railroading. Sounds like you have local police like my son-in-law in Washington State. He is a Christian and lives and works it. TARP
My personal favorite overreacting cop story is when those Chicago railfans got wrongfully busted by Metra & local cops for railfanning, and one of the cops said that the Patriot Act superseeded the US Constitution! And therefore taking pictures of trains was illegal.
Yikes.
Any high school civics student knows that the US Constitution is the highest law in our land. One would expect a police officer (who apparently passed a test to become one) to know that. Frightening.
Paul A. Cutler III
Weather Or No Go New Haven
Done that been there!!!
Well stated! And Thank You!
I’d like to thank you all once again for being there fo
I have to say that it almost makes me feel proud that you acted the way you did. It really bothers me that so many people now think they should sue somebody for a minor inconvenience or a misunderstanding, mainly for a quick buck, regardless of what they say about “rights” or “emotional trauma”. Even more troubling is some of the most ridiculous suits are given HUGE awards by a judge or jury. Anyway, not to stray from the point. You learned something, they likely learned something and everyone moves on with, I assume, mutual respect. That is really what a free country is about.
Regardless of the outcome, the original confrontation should not be forgotten, this is not 1939 and not central Europe, these terrorist bozos have the U.S. exactly where they want to, spending billions of dollars and thousands of man hours chasing non-existant threats, of course, proper and sane tactics to prevent incidents should be practiced, not shutting down the whole country. Spending trillions of dollars protecting every inch of railroad property when the morons will just target another source, dams, chemical plants-etc etc. This is still a scary topic, regardless of the outcome.
Philip:
Glad to hear that your ordeal is over and that your looking ahead … Good things happen to good people !!! And in this case the outcome turned out as it should have …
Stay Safe,
Paul
[tup]. Hi PC. Very happy for you. So are the others in the C S . Glad you can pickup the tabs.
Seriously, glad of the outcome.
Phil [Flip]
B
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dekruif
Hey all,
From a law enforcement officer here in VT…
Just remember that officers all over the country deal every day with situations that can prove violent/dangerous. Especially these days, most are going on the safe side of handling things immediately. With rail property, it can often be a gray area of where the boundarys are. Again, the officers probably go with the worst situation and make an arrest. BUT…once they discovered that they were in error, the have apologized and let it go at that. This was the professional thing to do.
In the past “good faith” would go a long way and people would understand that officers are only trying to do their jobs, using the best information they have at the time. Hindsight is always 20/20, and when you have minutes to observe a situation and then make a decision…it gets tough. People need to understand that. In today’s litigious society of “It’s always someone else’s fault”, good faith gets nowhere. Doesn’t matter what was going on at the time, if information comes out later that changes the picture, someone will always file a lawsuit. Never mind that the officers did what they thought was right at the time…we don’t go out looking to violate people’s rights. Sorry for the rant…
Anyways, I applaud you for accepting the apology at face value and letting it go at that.
Marc
I agree with you, Brakie, but the person I’d be going after is that jack%$# railroad security guard. Especially after he LIED about what he’d said earlier to the cops. I’d certainly make an example of that bellicose fool!
Abuse of authority, however well-intentioned, should never go unchallenged - next time the abuse will be greater, wheter it’s against you or someone else.
The local cop seemed to be okay during the whole thing, as I recall. The homeland security guy, with the 1 1/2 hours in handcuffs, should at the very least get a reprimand from his superiors, and I’d insist on a written apology from his supervisor before letting the thing go.
When someone trods on MY civil rights, they’d better be in the right! Otherwise, I’m sure going to make the pain of abusing ME will make them remember not to do it again. But that’s just me.
Good news indeed. However, I’d be sure to GET IT IN WRITING. It’s nice that they called you, but until it is followed up with a written statement of some sort, this whole ordeal might come back to haunt you in some way. Also, make sure nothing negative appears about you on any police records - and/or it clearly shows that it was a mistake and no charges were filed.
The last thing you need is for a new employer or organization to do a background check on you and this comes up.
Please reread my reply…I said they would HEAR from my Attorney-but,no where did I mention a lawsuit…A rattling of swords so to speak.
I wasn’t specifically referring to you or anyone else, Larry. Just a general comment that pushing the issue often isn’t the best method. Learning from the experience is the best that you can do. Silly lawsuits drag society as a whole down, IMO.
Well I still think a good rattling of sabers would be in order…[:D] By doing that they might think before they over react.
I agree about lawsuits however,not at the expense of trample civil rights and illegal arrest and detainment done in the name of Homeland Security…
What have you been doing while I’ve been away?
Arrested and deleted? I missed some fun!
Just out of interest… do your police cuff everyone they arrest? What do they do about people with damaged spines who can’t breathe if cuffed behind their backs? Do they listen and take notice or call the paramedics after someone collapses?
Or would I be like a friend (from the UK) who went from gunpoint to real friendly as soon as they heard her (very posh) English accent?
Um… except I don’t sound posh.[%-)]
Oh yes… glad you’re out of the slammer![:P]
Glad to hear the good news and the fact that they called to apologize. But they did in fact place you under arrest the moment they cuffed you. Sure case of over reacting that we should all take note of for our own safety. Thanks for sharing your experence with us. Phil