Wow. Don't know why I keep coming across these travel nightmares, but I think it's kinda funny that I do, so I'm not gonna break the streak. From Phoenix's News at 5 (with video on the page):
PHOENIX -- A 65-year-old St. Louis man is missing after Amtrak personnel, mistaking his diabetic shock for drunk and disorderly behavior, kicked him off a train in the middle of a national forest, according to police in Williams, Ariz.
Whoa. The family disputes this and people say he hadn't drunk anything.
Police said there is no train station or running water at the crossing, which is about two miles from the nearest road, at an elevation of about 8,000 feet.
Amtrak personnel told police dispatchers that Sims was drunk and unruly.
The Sims family said Sims is diabetic and was going into shock.
Sims' brother, Brian Mason, said his family tried to call Sims on his cell phone that night, but Sims was incoherent.
When officers arrived at the crossing, police said, Sims ran into the woods, leaving his luggage and medication behind.
Cell phone records show that Sims' phone was last used in Litchfield Park, Ariz., 180 miles from Williams.
Williams police told CBS 5 that Amtrak has used the abandoned crossing as a drop-off site in the past. Graham said that whether drunk or not, no one should be dropped off there.
"You don't put anyone off in an area like that," Graham said.
Damn skippy you don't. Luckily, they found him (story and video here), four days later and wandering along the tracks in a daze – frankly, I'm amazed he was alive, and it kind of sounds like everyone else was, too.
Diabetic shock? Put off the train in a national forest, miles away from the nearest source of even running water? And four days without it? I would have been kinda surprised to see a 30-year-old man in generally good health come back from something like that.
I'm glad to see him alive, but you know that family had better sue the Holy Sam Hell out of Amtrak. They say they're "not mad at anyone." Well, they said that while still looking for their brother. Once everything has settled, I think Amtrak needs to be sued to high heaven. Even the po-po said you can't leave people out there like that, even if they are drunk.
Craziness.
