Procedures for customer altercations

i was on a train ( 1 am) the other nite( i'm an employee) , and a guy was beating up a woman ( girlfriend/wife?), he was pretty rough, it was no joke, he had her on the floor. . it was right before my stop. i told the guy to cut the shit, he told me to mind my own business. there was a young brakeman, i dont think he knew what to do .i'm like, call the cops or something . when the train stopped he walked up the platform, i said where are you going, he said to ask the conductor what to do. there was a city cop( retired maybe ) on the train and he shows the creep his shield, and the guy didnt care. meanwhile i got the guy outside the train by his collar, and i'm yelling for the conductor to close the doors and leave. then the guy said, oh, this is how its going to be? i drop my bag, and my coat, and told him you arent getting on the train, finally the train pulled out, and i just picked up my stuff, left the guy there and split.

what's the deal? do i just get off the train and pretend i didnt see it? do i let the conductors handle it ? i didnt feel comfortable getting off the train leaving him with the woman.

thanks

The Brakeman should of handled it I suppose. He could of called the cops and the cops would of taken care of it right there. I don't understand him walking up the platform to ask the conductor what to do or simply use the radio to explain the situation. Seems like a total blunder to me. I'm not crew member but I'm a employee also and I've seen this happen a few times. Maybe someone in transportation could give better insight.

The problem is that when you get in the middle of that, they both turn against you & forget about their own issues.

ive actually seen that before, and not gotten involved. this looked different, the look in the womans eyes, it was haunting. hopefully, they arent really together, she might get another beating for him getting stranded. hope not, but i did what i did, the rest is out of my hands.

I dont care what Railroad you work for...A Conductor does need to get invovled! letting stuff go like that , your no better then a customer service agent on a phone.... Your a Conductor. its YOUR train....Man up! And the brakeman, not going to make a good passenger conductor. no balls....When you can't use common sense to stop a domestic, your hopless

Regardless if you're a railroad (on/off duty) or a civilian, CALL THE COPS! This is some terrible stuff. I'm a lawyer and I know some lawyers that handle stuff like this. It's bad. Really bad. These folks need any help they can get.

Call the cops hell yes! You know there is a lot of laws that will be upheld. in this day and age, that maybe on 9/10/11. would have been laughed at as "old" laughable laws,,,But as a Con there is a lot of laws to the PROTECTION of your train can go a long way. A Con or Brakie that wont stant up for his passengers or freight is as bad as a cop that walks away from a crime.

Maybe the brakeman was new, who knows. At the very least call for Police assistance. Had a guy beating his wife in a vestibule years ago, I got in the middle of it and he pulled a knife. Good thing a cop was going to work, and he pulled his gun and cuffed the guy.
For all you new employees, one thing the RR does not want you to know is, according to the NY state Penal law, if a passenger is behaving in a manner that will cause injury or death to another passenger or employee, you are allowed to use force. Use Common sense however, since the RR will not back you. Better to just call the cops and let them deal with it, since Crews are not armed. Better to use your cell phone and call the Police in the county you are in. The RR cops are spread too thin. Then call 204 and let them know whats going on.
Speaking of violence on the trains, today ( dec 7) is 21 years since colin furgeson.

it all happened so fast. told the brakeman i'd ride the train past my stop if needed, but didnt know if he would call the cops or not. there were other people on the train, should have told one of them to call too. maybe they did. i think next time i'll call the cops, and ride it out. i really didnt want to miss my stop either, the train was already late due to to trackwork. quite frankly, i didnt want to be distracted by my phone, my eyes were on him in case he tried to pull a fast one. at that point, the train was still rolling, i didnt want to grab him till the doors opened. id also have to look up the # for 204 in my contact list, by that time the guy could have been all over me. i'm just glad he was off the train, and that woman was safe for the time being. i ride that train 3 days a week, but the brakeman and conductor werent the regular crew. i know the conductors brother, i'll ask and see what happened afterward. maybe i'll see the brakeman again.

ps- my wife and kids were coming home from a school trip on the train right ahead of the ferguson train. i get the creeps when i'm on an M3, and always think about what i would have or could have done that day.

Puckhead - You did the right thing getting the crew member involved although to the extent you went thereafter was risky business. Especially in an altercation between a male and female and you get in the middle of it carries tremendous ramifications. I was told when working in the ranks by police officials to never get in the middle of it. If the female claims that you have touched her, you become the focal point and not the fight. It's an easy way to jeopardize your career.

As for the performance of the assistant, by the sounds of it was abysmal if they had even a little bit of time out here. It could have also been a rookie mistake. Any decent trainman would have notified the conductor via the intercom if equipped. To take it upon himself to call the police or hold up the train without the consent of the conductor is frowned upon.

Anyone dismissing the fact of taking action after public safety is breached shouldn't be in train service. You are there as an added layer of safety and possessing leadership skills to make the call when things of this nature arises. I hope the manager who got wind of this properly reinstructs the individual(s).

Interesting this happened while we were discussing this. Again, Conductor is not armed, only so much one can do. This Conductor and 3 others are now in the hospital.
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Every crew member handles this sort of thing differently. Doc has the right outlook, having been in the middle of many of these altercations himself many times. I don't think he was ever hit or beaten up, yet he cared about his passengers.

The Railroad expects crews to call for police assistance. This should be done without delay. The brakeman's choosing to notify the conductor prior to calling for assistance can be called a mistake in judgement. It is said that he should call for assistance first, then decide what immediate measures can be taken. The police can provide information on the best place for them to meet the train. In practice, each situation is different and it's difficult to criticize someone's well-intended actions. A PA announcement for police officers on board often calms the assailant.

We old timers certainly recall crew members who got very much involved in physical altercations. Too many stories to mention. I recall one fellow who was beating his girlfriend being thrown out the side vestibule by a trainman at 30 MPH. I recall no less than three fighters being knocked out cold by the same conductor on different occasions. Of course there was a time when many employees legally carried firearms too.

The Company generally treats any injury you sustain as inflicted by a third party. That is they will try to remove themselves from the claim and say you acted without authorization and that they are not a party to you injury. That means you'll use up sick time nursing your wounds.

We are working on a new approach to customer altercations. Soon we will be training our on board staff on Transcendental Meditation techniques to minimize and/or reduce the amount of altercations on our trains. We'll be starting a pilot program some time next year.

We are working on a new approach to customer altercations. Soon we will be training our on board staff on Transcendental Meditation techniques to minimize and/or reduce the amount of altercations on our trains. We'll be starting a pilot program some time next year.

Datenail, you have been a manager on the LIRR for many, many years. Do you think that it is time for retirement? Gentlemen, just try to keep this thread on topic.

Why take the risk of getting hurt or injured -- unless it is a life or death situation?

Additionally, if a video is taken, somethings get taken out of context and ... well look at what happened in Staten Island