Fremont, Newark, San Leandro, and Milpitas PDs all seem to have a lot of trouble knowing how to handle RR incidents. Several times, they have taken the engineers of Amtrak trains into custody as part of their "investigations". I can remember one time where they felt that they needed to take the engineer of a southbound (eastbound for the SP purists) capitol train away for a breathalyzer test.....just because. When threatened with arrest for interfering with an investigation and resisting arrest, the engineer complied. It also did not help that there was also an officer on the locomotive at all times since the investigating officer at the scene made sure that the engineer was not left alone. The engineer was NEVER under the influence, the investigating officer was just being a dick. Well, when the Amtrak PD captain finally arrived and found out what had happened, he sent one of his officers down to the local PD to rescue the engineer. He later went down to the local PD to have a little chat with their captain and explain federal jurisdiction vs city, and also make sure that the origianl investigating officer that caused all the problems was called every kind of dumb arsed M-Fer in the book.

Lessons to be learned if you are an engineer:

1- NEVER give your motor vehicle driver's license... EVER..... for a train vs vehicle incident.

2- NEVER give personal information such as home address, social security number, birthdate.

3- NEVER get off the locomotive, and if you must, DO NOT step off the right-of-way.

4- If you are threatened with arrest from a local PD, tell them you will no longer speak with them and you wish to speak to a lawyer OR railroad official. After that, shut the f*** up and stick to it.

5- If the local police wish to question you at their station feel free to go but only in cuffs, it will make your lawsuit much much bigger. That's right, the only way you will go to the station is under arrest. Otherwise the cops can pound sand. Hell, turn the sanders on so that the cops can actually find sand to pound. Point it out to them so they know where to look.


Craig Tambo Wrote:
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> Several years ago, we hit a truck at a private
> crossing between Newark and Albrae; the driver was
> badly injured but still alive (although he later
> left in a helicopter--bad sign). The responding
> Fremont police officers went all "CSI," even
> taking paint chips off the engine. After a long
> time had passed and they looked about done, I
> asked the head cop if we could proceed. He
> replied, "You can't go anywhere, this is a crime
> scene!" When I remarked, "I think you guys might
> watch too much television," he looked like he was
> ready to put the cuffs on me. I didn't help that
> none of us would give our driver's licenses or
> home addresses.
>
> Long story short, three hours had passed (for a
> non-fatality) and four passenger trains were
> sitting there, each with a load of commuters who
> really needed to get to work. Finally, a UP
> special agent came along and talked some sense
> into the Fremont PD (perhaps a freight train was
> now being delayed). Afterwards, we never heard
> another word about it.