Lawsuit Eyed In Kids Tossed Off Train

[GP35]

TAOS, N.M. -- The father whose several children, ages 12 to 15, were removed from an Amtrak train says he's considering filing a lawsuit.

Peter Sharfin accused Amtrak of overreacting and abusing the children, who booted them out in the dark and 600 miles from home after accusations that one of them stole an iPod.

"I felt like it was child endangerment," he said. "These are children alone at night

http://www.kpho.com/news/13746005/detail.html

 

[Chatter163]

It's déjà vu all over again.

http://cache.eb.com/eb/image?id=62069&rendTypeId=4

 

[Everydaymatters]

Well, here we go again. Amtrak has so many PR problems that I think we're all getting weary of them. On this one, it looks like it's a minimum of 85% NOT Amtrak's fault.

That's one for their side.

 

[MrFSS]

While it happened, we are only getting one biased side of the story.

 

[AmtrakCrescent20]

It's interesting that there have been so many incidents in the past few weeks where people were kicked off the train and made the news. Amtrak needs to do something before they start losing passengers.

EDIT: Just to clarify, I meant that Amtrak needs to stop the negative publicity before too many people are scared away from train travel-not that Amtrak will physically have 1 less passenger on the train after throwing them off.

 

[had8ley]

It's interesting that there have been so many incidents in the past few weeks where people were kicked off the train and made the news. Amtrak needs to do something before they start losing passengers.

Just wondering~ did they ever find the guy who wandered off into the National Forest? I wouldn't put it past Massachusetts Avenue to send someone out there, on an airplane of course, with a refund voucher in hopes that it will all blow over.

 

[Everydaymatters]

I read somewhere that they did find him.

 

[Windy City LSA]

It's interesting that there have been so many incidents in the past few weeks where people were kicked off the train and made the news. Amtrak needs to do something before they start losing passengers.

Yes. But I think the majority of Amtrak customers with any shred of common sense know that all you need to do is simply behave yourself in order to stay on the train. You know...don't get over intoxicated, don't smoke, don't assault fellow passengers or crew, don't steal, etc.. I don't think they're removing passengers on a whim. That's serious business.

 

[Everydaymatters]

WindyCity, it's not always a matter of "just behaving yourself". That Attendant-from-Hell in October actually went around looking for a fight. She claimed one px pushed her down the stairs, she screamed at another in the hallway within earshot of all of us on the lower level, and it went on and on. She was nuts!

 

[whistler]

Basic rules of train travel as per this and other boards.

1 - Don't bump into another person no matter how bumpy the ride is. You might be accused of molestation.

2 - Don't try and turn in items found and believed lost. You might be accused of stealing. Heck you probably should just ignore the item and not point it out to Amtrak personnel in case they accuse you of stealing it,

3 - Don't look for items you have lost. You don't really need it.

4 - Don't argue with the conductor when accused of stealing(assumption on my part but given the assumptions made in this case what is one more) instead agree with the conductor and make a full confession, whether guilty or innocent. You might be thrown off the train.

 

[Everydaymatters]

I think that depends on who the train attendant is that day.

 

[Windy City LSA]

WindyCity, it's not always a matter of "just behaving yourself". That Attendant-from-Hell in October actually went around looking for a fight. She claimed one px pushed her down the stairs, she screamed at another in the hallway within earshot of all of us on the lower level, and it went on and on. She was nuts!

Oh my goodness. I think I missed that story.

While a mere attendant can not directly remove a passenger from the train, it sounds as if a conductor should have given this attendant the boot!! Seriously. A disturbance is a disturbance regardless of who is creating it.

 

[had8ley]

It's interesting that there have been so many incidents in the past few weeks where people were kicked off the train and made the news. Amtrak needs to do something before they start losing passengers.
EDIT: Just to clarify, I meant that Amtrak needs to stop the negative publicity before too many people are scared away from train travel-not that Amtrak will physically have 1 less passenger on the train after throwing them off.

They sure don't need the PR especially after the National Forest diabetic story whether it be true or a total fabrication.

 

[john h]

Since the children were really never alone according to Amtrak and Police I think this lawsuit is dumb

 

[Guest]

Isn't the "game room" the lounge? Why wouldn't the child simply give it to the lounge attendant if it was found there? There is no need to walk through the train with it.

Reading this article, which is the only account published, I wonder why the father was concerned that the children were "left alone" with police and not concerned that the children were traveling over night without an accompanying adult.

 

[whistler]

Isn't the "game room" the lounge? Why wouldn't the child simply give it to the lounge attendant if it was found there? There is no need to walk through the train with it.
Reading this article, which is the only account published, I wonder why the father was concerned that the children were "left alone" with police and not concerned that the children were traveling over night without an accompanying adult.

There are numerous articles about this story published -

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=taos+amtrak+teens

 

[MrFSS]

Isn't the "game room" the lounge? Why wouldn't the child simply give it to the lounge attendant if it was found there? There is no need to walk through the train with it.

Reading this article, which is the only account published, I wonder why the father was concerned that the children were "left alone" with police and not concerned that the children were traveling over night without an accompanying adult.

There are numerous articles in this story published -

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=taos+amtrak+teens

And, from that link, this LINK tells it like it really was. No blame to Amtrak - or - the other side of the story.

 

[Urodoc]

I for one, am much more likely to ride Amtrak knowing that the conducters can and will throw people behaving inappropriately off the train.

 

[whistler]

Isn't the "game room" the lounge? Why wouldn't the child simply give it to the lounge attendant if it was found there? There is no need to walk through the train with it.

Reading this article, which is the only account published, I wonder why the father was concerned that the children were "left alone" with police and not concerned that the children were traveling over night without an accompanying adult.

There are numerous articles in this story published -

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=taos+amtrak+teens

And, from that link, this LINK tells it like it really was. No blame to Amtrak - or - the other side of the story.

I will take that posting with a grain of salt since the author of the original post doesn't identify how he gained his knowledge.

My problem is that many of the posters, here/there/and everywhere, ASSume the teens are thugs by their looks and supposed actions.

Maybe they are but I sure wouldn't want to leave any rope laying around some of the posters here and on trainorders.

And since they where returning home and assuming they took the train to Fresno. The question is how did they behave on the journey out. Since so many believe a thug is a thug their behavior would likely be the same on the outbound trip.

To many questions and not enough verifiable facts.

 

[daveyb99]

AMTRAKs policy is to allow minors travel with someone 15 years or older.

Thanks to this incident, that policy needs review.

AND

AMTRAK would NOT put juveniles off the train without cause.

Boo Hoo to poor Daddy.

Your kids are brats, and maybe you just didn't know it ..... but now you do.

 

[TransAtlantic]

Yesterday, I spoke to THE CONDUCTOR who threw the kids off the train at KNG - the details missing from the article are many, including (a) the kids had already been found in posession of a cell phone belonging to another passenger (AND HAD MADE CALLS TO N.M ON IT) and (B ) the boy who was found in posession of the ipod had also been pointed out to the conductor by a Girl Scout leader - the leader said that several of her girls had been groped (mostly the breast area) by the boy. These kids were truly rotten little monsters, and had no business being in public ANYWHERE! The only reason the paper didn't publish this is apparently because they didn't speak to ANY Amtrak personnel before going to press.