Man Arrested by Amtrak Police for Taking Photographs for Amtrak Photography Contest
You can’t make this stuff up. Even Stephen Colbert made fun of it.
This isn’t the first time Amtrak police have been idiots.
And in related news, in the U.K. it soon might be illegal to photograph the police.
EDITED TO ADD (2/10): The photographer’s page about the incident has been replaced with the words “No comment!” Anyone have a link to a copy? In the meantime, here’s an entry about the incident on a photo activist’s blog.
EDITED AGAIN: Thanks to Phil M. in comments for finding these Google Cache links from Duane Kerzic’s site:
- letter to Amtrak’s CEO
- Amtrak’s acknowledgement of receipt of a query about their rules
- New Jersey Transit’s acknowledgement of an e-mail he sent (which quotes his message to them)
- response from NJT
Phil adds: “The main Amtrak page on his site has since been crawled, so Google now has the ‘no comment’ note cached.”
BF Skinner • February 10, 2009 6:38 AM
They’ve been hassling photogs in the DC central station too. The law of unintended consequences may make the trains the prefered mode of travel for celebs who want to duck the papperazzi.
Been contemplating getting press credentials (from pyjama.org maybe) and snap some pictures until hassled then interview the beat cop and his supervisors.
Peter Parker never had to put up with this grief.
@Bruce. Funny thing about that link – is it suppose to say no comment?