Incident in La Plata

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Qapla

Engineer
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Jul 15, 2019
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Location
Gator Country Florida
Last night the SWC #3 was held for some time while an odd circumstance was unfolding. I have not been able to find any information today explaining the situation.

Anyway, I was watching the live camera feed when #3 arrived.
As people got off a rail fan got off with a "V/R" sign and waved at the camera and held up his sign. He also took some pics of Oscar. After a few minutes he got back on the train.

Shortly before the train was due to leave the station, an Amtrak person got off with a backpack type bag and some other stuff in his hands and placed them near the fence. Right after this, two more Amtrak people escorted a man off the train (not the railfan with the sign). When the Amtrak people were back in the train with the door closed and the "window" open then man they put off the train went over to the train and stated yelling at the person inside the door. Then he grabbed the door and tried to climb back into the train. He kept hanging on the side of the train for a bit and then got off but stood on the rocks waving his hands and yelling at whoever was inside the door. He tried several times to hang on the door.

Then, he backed off some, picked up rocks and started throwing them at the train. Some on the chat for the live feed thought he may have broken the window in the door. His ranting and rock throwing went on for several minutes. Finally, a cop showed up and tried to dissuade him. It looked like he might be calming the man down because the man went to the other side of the short fence. Then, the man picked up some more rocks and started throwing them - hitting the train and the cop.

This incident with this man went on for 15-20 minutes. The man and the cop eventually went out of camera view so I don't know if he was arrested. It seemed like the train should now be able to leave but more police showed up and there was some discussion with the Amtrak people on the train and some of the people standing around at the station.

Finally, when #3 was plenty late, they pulled out of the station.
 
Yea, I watching the VR Railcam last evening when that was going down. I'm sure the train had to stick around (after the action moved off camera) so law enforcement could get details for their report. Amtrak probably has to write some paper too. Especially with the rock throwing. At one time there were more than 4,000 witnesses viewers.
 
Yep - there were many of us who watched it "live" ...

I had just started the feed as #3 was approaching the station - all started normally and the Railfan with the sign was nice to see ... he kept watching to make sure he didn't miss the train - if he only knew how much time he really would have had to wave and take pictures ...
 
I did see the live video on the Virtual Rail Cam two nights ago, but is there a way to go back and view the video again - or to send it to those who missed it? I'm certainly not savvy enough to know how to do it.

And then, once the video is found (that is, if it's possible to find it) can the video itself (it was about 7:43 p.m. local time Thursday, July 2) be uploaded to a You Tube posting all its own?
 
By the way, it was nothing at all to do with face masks. The train was in La Plata for 46 minutes because of this. It arrived just a few minutes late at 7:43pm and left LaPlata at 8:29pm.
 
Very simple like the script out of an Indiana Jones movie - 'NO TICKET !'

No FREE rides for you - you bum !

Paper or Plastic he had neither !
 
Still no info on the nature of the issue that caused the conductor to ask him to leave the train.
We can guess:

He was throwing rocks at the windows while inside the train?

He was throwing conductors at the windows?

He was taking out windows from their frames and throwing them at conductors and outside rocks?

He was throwing "Flexible dining" meals out the door? - That would make the conductor be in the wrong IMHO. :)
 
He was throwing "Flexible dining" meals out the door? - That would make the conductor be in the wrong IMHO.
In some states being served refuse is a viable defense against simple assault. 🤢

Perhaps he boarded without a ticket and/or without a mask ...
Or maybe he attached some string and made a mask out of his ticket? 😷
 
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When he got off the train he was not wearing a mask. I did not see a mask on him at any time.

He was escorted off the train and his "belongings" were being carried by an Amtrak employee. He was escorted off the train by one door and he tried to re-enter the train by a different door.
 
Yeah, the number of misbehavior incidents in society that end with "Alcohol was involved" are many and legion. Not that I don't enjoy an adult beverage or two myself, but alcohol certainly tends to bring out the jack*ss in a lot of people.
 
You never know.... I saw a conductor kick a man off the crescent for complaining that 1 of the coaches was closed off. Literally that’s all he did. We boarded together in Atlanta, he was across the aisle from me. He made the complaint and she said “if you don’t like how I run my train you’re not riding it” and he said “well I don’t” and she called the police on him.

Crazy things happen on Amtrak. Ha.
 
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