Posted on 05/16/2011 7:17:01 PM PDT by Bed_Zeppelin
SALEM, Ore. - Salem Police stopped an Amtrak train on Sunday afternoon after reports a woman threatened other passengers when they complained she was speaking too loudly on her cell phone.
Lakeysha Beard of Tigard was charged with disorderly conduct after police said she got into a verbal altercation with passengers on the train. The other passengers complained she refused to put down her cell phone, even after train staff made repeated announcements for passengers to not use cell phones, according to police.
When a passenger confronted her about her loud talking, police said Beard got aggressive. She had reportedly been talking non-stop on the phone since getting on the train in Oakland, Calif.
Beard was taken into custody until a family member could come and pick her up.
The train pulled out of the station in Oakland at 10 p.m. the night before, according to Amtrak spokeswoman Verae Graham. Conductors on the train coordinated with police to stop the train at a crossing about two miles from the Salem station. That was around 2 p.m.
The train was the Coast Starlight, which runs between Los Angeles and Seattle.
Graham said Amtrak has no formal policy that bans people from talking on cell phones while the train is moving.
KATU tried to contact Beard for comment but could not reach her.
The train was stopped for about 20 minutes before it continued on to Portland.
Talking on the phone, or more importantly being seen and heard talking on the phone, is central to Amish culture. With the talk of spending billions on high speed trains, it would be worthwhile to take a strategy of making trains an elegant alternative to buses and airplanes. Sadly, the US is oriented toward the lowest common denominator.
On the other hand, you got a free preview of the future of transportation in this country, democrat version.
Interesting to contemplate how she paid for her ticket, her cell phone, all the food necessary to maintain that figure, etc. Just askin’, but I’ll bet it’s not by working for a living.
I was on the train from Oakland to Salem 2 months ago and it stopped and kicked out some guys who were making too much noise disturbing the passengers who were sleeping. Do not mess with the conductor on a train it is a federal offense.
I didn’t know Lakesha was an Amish name...
I knew instantly it had to be one of those Amish again.
“...it had to be one of those Amish again.”
Hey! It’s an Amish thing! You wouldn’t understand!
The other passengers shouldn’t have confronted her. They should have just gone to get the Conductor so he could do his job.
Looks like some of the cell phone users outside of our hospital. They can be heard for a half a block or more at times. Thank God were not a psych hospital.
Real trains should have a modern day version of a phone booth, basically in effect there should be on such trains as these that are of the type with the lounge cars and such cubicles with sound suppression panels that any cell phone user can use with some privacy, and to not annoy fellow passengers.
But from I see of this it was called for, pun intended.
Because their prices are totally outrageous. Cheaper to fly on southwest or drive.
Because their prices are totally outrageous. Cheaper to fly on southwest or drive.
Because their prices are totally outrageous. Cheaper to fly on southwest or drive.
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