(erielack) Re: Alleged Amtrak Police Misconduct

[TrainGG1_@_aol.com]

It appears that somebody was not watching when TRAINS magazine, the CHICAGO  
TRIBUNE and PAULA ZAHN ran their articles on how Morton Grove and Metra PD  
violated a coupe of railfan’s rights in Morton Grove, IL earlier this year. If  
the account shown here is true and Mr. Bourgeois pursues legal action against  
Amtrak for this outrage, then maybe the “test case” we’ve all be waiting for 
 will be heard over photographers’ rights. Let’s pray everything he says is  
correct and that the legal ball begins rolling….
 

(Steve Barry is Managing Editor of Railroad and Railfan magazine.  The  story 
will appear in the next issue of the magazine. If this is  all  true, there 
could be very serious consequences for Amtrak and the  Amtrak  Police 
Department. He posted this to another discussion board, and  it  is being reposted  
here)
=========================================================
August  23, 2005
 
My biggest fear, in recounting what happened to me August 19, 2005 in New  
Orleans, is that people will have a very difficult time believing me. I am sure  
some folks will be sure I am embellishing the facts, exaggerating,
or  outright lying. None of this is the case. Everything I state here 
happened as I  say it. I am a 60-year-old, recently retired pharmaceutical rep, with 
three  grown sons. I have a particular fondness for trains, and riding on 
Amtrak.  Friday morning, August 19, I departed Houston on the Sunset Limited, 
bound for  Pensacola, Florida for a short vacation. The train had a layover of 
several  hours in New Orleans, so I thought I would kill some time taking 
photographs of  the terminal and Amtrak facilities. I had taken a lot of photographs 
along the  way, and I have started a photographic album intended to document 
the Sunset  Limited all the way across Louisiana. There is no way to know how 
much longer  Amtrak will  run this train.
 
It is important to know that there are no signs on the platform forbidding  
passengers from walking down the platform into the area beyond where the lead  
engine would be, and no signs that prohibit passengers from  taking
photographs. There are "No Trespassing" signs on the gate to the  Amtrak 
maintenance facility, on Earhart, but they are not visible on the  platform. Two 
female Amtrak employees drove by and asked me what I was doing. I  said I was 
taking photographs, and that rail photography was a hobby of mine.  They 
admonished me to "watch out for the Amtrak police." I did not take that  warning 
seriously, because I was not doing anything wrong. I joked that maybe  "they 
would beat me up, so I could file a multi-million dollar lawsuit." That,  being an 
idea so ridiculous, anyone would know it was meant in a humorous vein.  I 
walked a little further down where I encountered a young guy, who was also an  
Amtrak employee. He inquired as to why I was photographing the switcher, and I  
explained to him that I was just a railfan, and I wanted photos of the Amtrak  
equipment. I asked if I could walk further down the platform to take a couple 
 more photographs. He said he preferred I wait until he could get someone to  
accompany me down there. I said "fine", and I waited. By then the two female  
employees had returned and we were all standing around talking and waiting 
for  whoever was supposed to come to see about my request. After a while an 
Amtrak  policeman arrived. I figured he would say I could, or I could not go 
further  down the platform. When he got out of his car, I could see he was already 
in a  highly excited and agitated state. He was not in the mood to dialogue. 
He  explained I was trespassing on private property (remember, no signs), and 
was  not supposed to be taking photos. I was not about to argue with him, or be 
the  least bit confrontational, knowing the reputation of New Orleans police,
but  this was an AMTRAK policeman, and I was an AMTRAK passenger. I  merely
inquired if this was not public property, since Amtrak is a publicly  
supported
entity. At that he told me to turn around, and he handcuffed  me.
 
 I naturally protested that I had done nothing wrong. But he was  determined 
to handle things the way he had, I believe, decided to handle them  before he 
ever showed up. He took me up to his office, and contacted someone,  who I 
assume was his superior. He gave the person an embellished, and almost  
completely false account of what happened. For instance, he stated I had said,  "This 
is public property, and I can be here if I want to be." I begged the  policeman 
not to take me off the train, but he continued to repeat that I was  "going 
to jail." I really got upset at this point and insisted he let me talk to  
someone in the Amtrak office. After asking him over and over to let me speak  with 
someone, he finally put an agent on the phone. I told agent at the terminal  
I had done nothing wrong, and to please come get me out of this mess. The 
agent  said he could not override the policeman, and generally conveyed the 
attitude  that he did not give a damn what my predicament was. The policeman ran my 
ID,  and, of course, it came back that I had never been arrested, and that I 
had no  criminal record. He was unfazed by that information, and instructed the 
agent  to  remove my bag from the sleeper room I had occupied. In the stress 
of  the moment I forgot about my large hanging bag that was in the lower level 
rack.  It made it to Orlando, and I will get it back this week.
 

As we were driving out of the terminal area, on the way to the Orleans  
Parish Prison, he pointed out the "No Trespassing" sign on the chain link gate,  
which is not visible to any passenger on the platform of the terminal.  Upon
arrival at the jail, I was processed in, and at that point the Amtrak  
officer committed a gross violation of procedure, by keeping my wallet, camera,  and 
a pocket knife that the jailer had taken out of my pocket. This was to have  
major ramifications, later, when I finally had the opportunity to bail myself  
out of the facility. He had also erased certain photographs in my digital  
camera, while up in his office, a violation of my civil liberties. While waiting 
 for him to show up I had photographed two A-10's that were flying over. He  
wanted to know why I had photographed the A-10's. I responded, "Because I'm a  
pilot." I do hold a private pilot's license, but my response seemed to stun 
him  slightly, and he moved on.
 
The Orleans Parish Prison is one of the worst jails in the country. The  
jailers there treat all inmates with contempt, disdain, and do everything they  
can to make you feel there is no light at the end of tunnel. My charge,  
incidentally, was criminal trespass. You cannot bond out until you are  "processed." 
For hours I watched other inmates come and go, while my name was  never 
called. Earlier, in an odd difference in procedure, the watch captain  said, "O.K. 
Bourgeois, go to that window." I thought I had it made, but when I  got there, 
the first thing they wanted was a photo I.D. Too bad, it was in my  bag at the 
Amtrak police office. So, I had to be put through a nationwide  fingerprint 
search, which added more time to my stay. I went in the jail at 6:30  p.m. on 
Friday, slept (what little I could) on the concrete jail floor, instead  of the 
Viewliner bed I had on the Sunset Limited, and at four o'clock Saturday  
afternoon  I was still in jail. I could have been out at 11 a.m. of the  same day, 
but with no money, or debit card (remember, they were taken from me) I  could 
not bond out. So, along with about 60 other inmates, I was put in the  orange 
suit and moved to the big prison, with the big cell block, just like you  see 
in the movies.
 
By the grace of God I had done one thing right. I had managed to get a  phone 
book and write down the number of my cousin, who lives in New Orleans. All  
phone calls out had to be collect, and you had to have the number. I can  
remember exactly two phone numbers in my head, one being my brother who lives in  
Lake Charles. I was finally able to get in touch with my sister-in-law, and she 
 made numerous phone calls for me; most importantly to my friends in 
Pensacola,  who by now, were frantic. Not to mention my youngest son, who lives here 
in  Houston, who was sent into a tailspin. My cousin, who had been gone when I 
first  called, was home now, and around 6 p.m., she came down and paid my 
bond. In the  manner of doing things at the Orleans Parish Prison, I walked out of 
the jail at  12:30 a.m. Sunday morning. I recovered my belongings the next 
day at the  terminal.
 
My vacation I had looked forward to was destroyed. My friends and family  had 
been traumatized, as only you can be when you cannot account for the  
whereabouts of someone. The lasting psychological effect of this is hard to  predict. 
I have been quite depressed since I came home. The over whelming fact  is, I 
COMITTED NO CRIME. You cannot arrest someone for trespassing, when there  is 
not even a sign saying "no trespassing," and you cannot arrest someone for  
taking photographs. The entire amount of time that the officer spent with me on  
the platform could not have been over one minute. What motivated him to arrest 
 me, when he could have easily said, "You cannot be here-go back to the 
train," I  cannot say. What really bothers me is he obviously felt he could get 
away with  this gross example of false arrest, and deprivation of civil 
liberties. That  points to something rotten in the system, itself. Combine that with 
the total  disregard of my welfare by the Amtrak agent, and there is ample room 
for an  investigation, and action to be taken. The officer should be 
terminated, for  sure, and following him out the door should be the agent. The 
officer's superior  who allowed him to perpetrate this outrage, should also have to 
answer.
 
There is no stone I will leave unturned to get justice for this. As I sat  in 
jail my most consistent thought, after "I have to get out of here," was "I  
have to make this count for something." This should never happen to anyone,  
again.
 
James Craig Bourgeois
 
 


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