# My little heart stopping adventure on the NEC



## Oldsmoboi (Jun 23, 2011)

A few weeks back I was returning home from New Haven to Pittsburgh. I just barely made it onto train 143 at NHV before the doors closed.

The woman next to me with two small children was taking Amtrak for the first time and was a bit confused. She was asking the conductor for assistance getting to her next train in NYP. It turns out that her father-in-law booked her tickets for her and rather than letting her stay on the 143 all the way to her final destination in PHL, he booked it for a layover in NYP and then switching to the 43 there.

Overhearing the conversation, I told her that I was making the same connection and that I was comfortable in NYP so I would make sure she got on the right train. The conductor instantly made himself scarce.

I took the rest of the trip to NYP to discuss the virtues of Amtrak, especially for her who was new to New Haven but would need to visit the Philly area frequently for family. (Actually Newtown PA, so I told her to only book to Trenton and have her family pick her up there rather than Philly)

I am not a big fan of kids, but for some reason kids really like me. So naturally, the kids are now sitting in the seat next to me asking me all sorts of questions.

Once we arrived in NYP, she told the kids to follow me as she was dragging drastically oversized luggage behind.

As I got off the train, I turned around to watch the kids. Before I got all the way around, the 4 year old boy fell down in between the car and the platform to where only his head was above the level of the platform and one arm holding onto the car floor. I dropped my bags and scooped him up out of the gap. The boy was scared and crying, but otherwise unharmed.

What annoyed me was the two AmPolice officers on the platform didn't even flinch or make a move to assist.

I got the family upstairs into the AmLounge where we waiting for 43 to board. I got them into the coach, bid them goodbye, and then proceeded down to my seat in B.C. to camp out for the next 8.5 hours.

At least it was a scarey scenario with a happy ending.


----------



## amamba (Jun 23, 2011)

How disturbing that the ampolice didn't offer to assist! And I am glad that you were there to help.


----------



## amtrakwolverine (Jun 23, 2011)

That mother should sue the amtrak police for not helping her child just like that lady who fell into a mall fountain then sued cause no one came to her aid. I hope that station got the incident on security camera. Those cops should be fired.


----------



## Donctor (Jun 23, 2011)

amtrakwolverine said:


> That mother should sue the amtrak police for not helping her child just like that lady who fell into a mall fountain...


Yeah!


----------



## Oldsmoboi (Jun 23, 2011)

My reaction time was super quick and I had him out before they could have gotten there... but still, not even an "is everything ok over here?" from them


----------



## AlanB (Jun 24, 2011)

amtrakwolverine said:


> That mother should sue the amtrak police for not helping her child just like that lady who fell into a mall fountain then sued cause no one came to her aid. I hope that station got the incident on security camera. Those cops should be fired.


Two vastly different stories!

And frankly that lady got what she deserved. She was more interested in texting than where she was going. If she had fallen on a stroller, instead of a fountain, and hurt a baby she'd be the one getting sued.


----------



## AlanB (Jun 24, 2011)

Oldsmoboi said:


> My reaction time was super quick and I had him out before they could have gotten there... but still, not even an "is everything ok over here?" from them


Are you certain that they even saw what happened?

If you were as quick as you suggest in getting him out, maybe they didn't even notice?


----------



## Devil's Advocate (Jun 24, 2011)

I wasn't there so it's hard to say much of anything about this particular incident. However, during my life I've come to the conclusion that in general police officers are not very helpful when it comes to anything that doesn't involve blue collar crime. For instance, when I relayed my experience with the man who seemed to be suffering from a stroke during a stop on the MARC a police officer was the first official responder to arrive and all he did was shrug his shoulders and look on with indifference from a distance as the crowd of more concerned folks tried to figure out what to do. That fits my general experience with police officers over the last three decades or so. I don't have much experience with Amtrak Police but I wouldn't find it terribly surprising to hear they followed a similar path of disinterest toward anything that wasn't obviously crime related.


----------



## Oldsmoboi (Jun 24, 2011)

They saw, I had eye contact with one of them as I got up off the floor.


----------



## rrdude (Jun 24, 2011)

amtrakwolverine said:


> That mother should sue the amtrak police for not helping her child just like that lady who fell into a mall fountain then sued cause no one came to her aid. I hope that station got the incident on security camera. Those cops should be fired.


Kevin, that kind of attitude, and my kids have it too, "every time *anything* 'bad' happens, they yell 'we should sue them'.........." is partly what has made the ole' US of A such a litigious place. Every body wants to go around suing everybody else. And to what end? Higher prices and more restrictions on the rest of us......(Think about railfanning photography in general, and how it was decades ago, compared to today?)

Who was harmed? No one. The situation seemed to happen so fast, the officers prolly had no time to react. Yeah, they shoulda come over and asked "is everything alright", but you want to ruin their careers and fire them for that?

You know me, I'm no Ampologist, far from it. But suing people for every little thing is the LAST thing we should be doing.

There, I have now climbed down off my soapbox.


----------



## MikefromCrete (Jun 24, 2011)

amtrakwolverine said:


> That mother should sue the amtrak police for not helping her child just like that lady who fell into a mall fountain then sued cause no one came to her aid. I hope that station got the incident on security camera. Those cops should be fired.


Your reaction to everything is that everybody should be sued and fired.


----------



## amtrakwolverine (Jul 4, 2011)

MikefromCrete said:


> amtrakwolverine said:
> 
> 
> > That mother should sue the amtrak police for not helping her child just like that lady who fell into a mall fountain then sued cause no one came to her aid. I hope that station got the incident on security camera. Those cops should be fired.
> ...


Not everything just when it comes to endangering peoples lives. There job is to ``protect and serve`` not ``stand and watch``.

Now what if the OP was not around and the kid fell and the train started to move. Then what? Those cops would be in DEEP **** cause they failed to take action.


----------



## jis (Jul 5, 2011)

amtrakwolverine said:


> MikefromCrete said:
> 
> 
> > amtrakwolverine said:
> ...


Since now we are talking hypotheticals, have you considered the hypothetical possibility that maybe if the OP was not around they would have come and helped?


----------



## Oldsmoboi (Jul 5, 2011)

hey guys.... I'm still around


----------



## PerRock (Jul 5, 2011)

Texas Sunset said:


> I wasn't there so it's hard to say much of anything about this particular incident. However, during my life I've come to the conclusion that in general police officers are not very helpful when it comes to anything that doesn't involve blue collar crime. For instance, when I relayed my experience with the man who seemed to be suffering from a stroke during a stop on the MARC a police officer was the first official responder to arrive and all he did was shrug his shoulders and look on with indifference from a distance as the crowd of more concerned folks tried to figure out what to do. That fits my general experience with police officers over the last three decades or so. I don't have much experience with Amtrak Police but I wouldn't find it terribly surprising to hear they followed a similar path of disinterest toward anything that wasn't obviously crime related.


I'll drink to that, out local coppers are pretty crap. When we had a bank robbery at the bank near my house, do you want to know who the responding police were? The University Cops. All the cop cars there were Uni Cops besides the CSU unit which is city (there is only one in the town, the Uni uses it to). Then when there was an Armed man in my neighborhood there were 3 police forces that had a presence, The County Sheriff, State Police & the University Police, didn't see any city cops.


----------



## chandj (Jul 7, 2011)

Oldsmoboi--thank heavens you were there and that you took it upon yourself to help this family in general, and then to pull the child to safety. As a woman who travels often with children (one is 3 years old), this really hits home. I have generally found the Amtrak personnel to be helpful in my situation, but saving this child should not have fallen to you--I hope there were security folk right behind you, and you were just too quick for them, but doesn't sound like that was the case.


----------



## AmtrakBlue (Jul 7, 2011)

rrdude said:


> amtrakwolverine said:
> 
> 
> > That mother should sue the amtrak police for not helping her child just like that lady who fell into a mall fountain then sued cause no one came to her aid. I hope that station got the incident on security camera. Those cops should be fired.
> ...


Wish we had a "LIKE" button on this forum.

I agree with this being litigious society and that's why everything costs so much more than they need to. I'm also tired of seeing "common sense" signs on everything.


----------

