Deputies Find Diabetic Man Kicked Off Train

[RamboLiberal]

Source: NBCSanDiego.com

A 65-year-old St. Louis man who went missing Sunday night after Amtrak personnel, mistaking his diabetic shock for drunk and disorderly behavior, kicked him off a train in the middle of a national forest, has been found two miles from where he was dropped off, according to police in Williams.

Police said Roosevelt Sims, a factory worker who had just retired last week, was discovered Thursday night walking along the railroad tracks barefoot by Coconino County sheriff's deputies.

Deputies said he was dehydrated and disoriented.

He was rushed to a Flagstaff hospital for emergency treatment, deputies said.

Read more: http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/13593800/detail.html

---

More from his hometown news:

He was barefoot, wearing only his underwear and walking with a stick, family members said. He appeared to be in good condition. He was taken to the Flagstaff Medical Center for evaluation, according to the sheriff's department.

----

Ida Sims said she had spoken to her husband briefly from the hospital.

"He sounds good," she said. "He can't remember much about what happened. And he's still kind of talking out of his head."

----

Physicians told family members that Roosevelt Sims would probably remain in the hospital for several days before he can return to St. Louis. Ida Sims said she'd wait until he felt better before she questions him about the episode.

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/FBC134C512EC83DE862573090014A699?OpenDocument

Glad he's been found safe.

[merh]

1. I'm so glad they found him.

I hope he is okay.

[Vincardog]

2. LEt me know when we set up his legal fund.

[aquart]

23. Oh, I expect a number of law firms have volunteered.

There's no need of a fund. They take a cut of the winnings.

[madaboutharry]

3. This is not the last we will hear of this.

That can be counted on.

[Kali]

4. thank the dogs

what a messed up story - so glad they found him

[redqueen]

5. he should have had a medical alert band or something

to alert people to his condition

[RamboLiberal]

7. He was only recently diagnosed

Probably didn't know enough yet about the disease to know he needed one.

[redqueen]

11. that's very sad

a friend of mine had a very nasty experience where a person with diabetes was acting crazy... made advances and lewd comments to her daughter... if not for that ID bracelet, i don't like to imagine what might have happened to *that* guy


really no excuse for dropping him or anyone else where they did, though.

[ben_meyers]

14. They didn't just drop him

They pulled to a siding and called the Coconino County sheriff's dept. for assistance. It sounds like Sims split for the woods when the Sheriff approached leaving his luggage and medicine behind. During the night he was spotted but ran again. Amtrack service can be bad enough without a guy acting "crazy".

[TommyO]

17. Amtrak staff needs to be trained and understand what

can happen to people with diabetes. This man wasn't "acting 'crazy'", he was suffering from a serious medical condition.

[redqueen]

21. well that guy was suffering from the same condition

and it made him act like a crazy drunk pedophile.

but yeah, training would help.

[NeoConsSuck]

44. Pedophile??

Where in the story was he acting like a pedophile?

Or is this just an embellishment on your part?

[pop goes the weasel]

12. Like they would have looked for it

I suspect that the train officials made up their minds about him as soon as they looked at his http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/FBC134C512EC83DE862573090014A699?OpenDocument">face. Yep, another fool who had the nerve to be disabled and nonwhite at the same time. I guess he's just supposed to be happy he wasn't deported. Not that white disabled people don't get mistreated for being "disruptive." As http://www.diabetesmine.com/2007/05/would_you_belie.html">Mr. Universe pointed out after he was tasered and jailed following an episode of hypoglycemia: "So many parents have contacted me, sharing their fear that something like this will happen to their child one day. Here I was a well-dressed adult. What if I was 14-year-old kid in baggy pants -- who was actually a sweet kid -- or what if I were African-American? How would I have been treated then?"

[redqueen]

13. well if you see my post above

a friend of mine had a nasty experience with someone in the same condition... and it was the medical alert bracelet thing that saved him from what would probably have been a much worse fate than this guy.

[pop goes the weasel]

15. and I'm saying it's no guarantee

Doug Burns (Mr. Universe) was wearing his medic alert bracelet when police set on him. They must have found it, because it turned up broken in his pocket later. And yet they still charged him with resisting arrest. Similarly, there was a recent case of a man with epilepsy beaten, tasered, and arrested for resisting the police. And he had on a medic alert bracelet. Your friend must have some sense about her, but I'm afraid it's a quality in very short supply.

[redqueen]

19. yeah...like everything else it's up to the individual n/t

[KurtNYC]

16. I'm going to guess that you have never travelled on Amtrak

it isn't what you would call a customer-oriented operation. And there are cleaner bathrooms in a Tijuana whorehouse.

[redqueen]

20. no

and EEEEEEEEEEEEEW

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

39. My parents took Amtrak last year,

Their 4 hour trip took about 12 hours, most of it spent sitting in the middle of nowhere watching other trains go by, they said people were escaping the train and trying to hitch hike.

[Orangepeel]

46. I took the auto train from Florida to DC and it was actually nice

it wasn't crowded (which would have made a big difference, I'm sure), big comfy seats, nice attendants, a mediocre but edible dinner. It took hours longer than it would have to drive (4:00 pm to 9:00 am the next morning), but I didn't have to drive.

I've never been on any other Amtrak route (I wouldn't be surprised if the one I took is their only money maker and so it is run differently), but I'd do that one again.

[partylessinOhio]

6. I hope Mr. Sims recovers without any permanent damage to his health.

Then I hope he sues and gets a huge settlement from Amtrack.

Have we lost our minds and common sense in America?

[MrPrax]

8. He should have taken the Dog...

at least they would have given him a quarter and some lamplight.

Sue the hell out of them and, if possible arrest or fire those employees...

[Greyskye]

9. Thank goodness!

I was really fearing the worst here.

[lligrd]

10. How In The Heck Can They Let Anyone Off

in the middle of a forest. This is tantamount to attempted murder.

[Louie the XIV]

18. Can the government not even run a train company anymore?

without it going bankrupt or endangering the lives of its customers

[uppityperson]

26. They didn't.The conductor waited with Roosevelt Sims at the stop until local police arrived.

The conductor waited with Roosevelt Sims at the stop until local police arrived.

The conductor waited with Roosevelt Sims at the stop until local police arrived. When they did, he suddenly darted into the woods nearby and disappeared.

[lligrd]

29. Then Explain The Rest Of The Story

"He was let off in the middle of a national forest, which is about 800,000 acres of beautiful pine trees," Lt. Mike Graham said.

Police said there is no train station or running water at the crossing, which is about two miles from the nearest road, at an elevation of about 8,000 feet.

<snip>

"When officers arrived at the crossing, police said, they found Sims had left his luggage and medication behind."

<snip>

Williams police told Phoenix television station KPHO that Amtrak has used the abandoned crossing as a drop-off site in the past. Graham said that whether drunk or not, no one should be dropped off there.

"You don't put anyone off in an area like that," Graham said.

[ben_meyers]

30. Somebody (probably a reporter) is confused

Amtrak lists WMA a station "with enclosed waiting area"
http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Amtrak/am2Station/Station_Page&code=WMA

It is in the middle of a national forest, but doesn't appear to be the middle of nowhere.

My whole point in this is that I don't believe much of what I read or hear from any media!

[uppityperson]

31. thank you

[lligrd]

35. The Reporter Was Quoting Authorities

And the story said it was an abandoned stop. The one you referred to is still an active stop.

[Mind_your_head]

34. uhm, so the two police officers couldn't follow/locate this 65 y/o

diabetic guy after he ran off into the woods?

Impressive :sarcasm:

[Occulus]

36. Weeeeelllll,

Having lived eight from from the edge of a thickly wooded state game preserve, I can tell you: anyone who tries to follow you will lose you the moment they lose sight of you.

The undergrowth can be thick, and knowing pine trees, he was gone in a flash, and they probably couldn't even hear him after five or ten seconds. This is because pine trees seriously deaden sounds, not only because of their branches but also because of the dead needles on the ground, which make for an excellent surface for moving silently.

I hiked in the woods behind my house almost daily when I was a teen. That he got away from them so quickly after running into the woods is a foregone conclusion.

[Mind_your_head]

37. self-delete

[Pooka Fey]

41. And when he ran off, Amtrak and the police said "fuck it" and left him alone to die in the forest

until members of his family flew to Phoenix, from St. Louis, then travelled to Coconino County to insist that somebody LOOK FOR HIM.
snip
Several of Sims' family members flew to Phoenix this week to look for him. They posted fliers and called hospitals. They contacted Williams police, who said they couldn't find him. They told family members they had little resources to look. Lamar Sims, Roosevelt's son, said he was outraged when he saw where his father was put off the train.

On Thursday, family members went to the Coconino County sheriff's department to ask for help. Within hours, the sheriff organized a search party, which included dogs and helicopters. A special team was following footprints heading north from the train stop toward Interstate 40, which runs east and west across northern Arizona and intersects with Interstate 17, the main route to Phoenix.

snip

Without his family insisting that somebody put this right, that man would be DEAD. He was left alone in a forest to die for being "drunk". How is this acceptable?

[uppityperson]

43. It's not acceptable. Not at all. eom

[Miss Chybil]

22. Let's pretend he WAS drunk.

Is it right to put a disoriented, if obnoxious, person out in the middle of the forest? This doesn't sit right with me.

[seriousstan]

24. The conductor waited with Roosevelt Sims at the stop until local police arrived.

The conductor waited with Roosevelt Sims at the stop until local police arrived. When they did, he suddenly darted into the woods nearby and disappeared.

GOD, do you even read the article or was the jerking knee blocking the screen?

[ben_meyers]

27. Thank You

It was at a scheduled stop in Williams Junction AZ.

According to Amtrak, personnel aboard the train were following company policy when they escorted Sims off the train during a scheduled stop in Williams Junction.

The police were contacted and a conductor reportedly waited with Sims for them to arrive. When officers did get there, Sims reportedly ran off into the woods.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=+Williams+Junction+az&ie=UTF8&ll=35.242885,-112.132001&spn=0.014475,0.036478&z=15&om=1

My how the lazy ass media can get things wrong at first, and some people jump to conclusions.

[Honeycombe8]

32. Ain't that the truth. They didn't "dump" the man....they were

following company policy, apparently, and at a scheduled stop, they called officers and waited on the platform with the passenger for the police to arrive. When the police arrived, Sims ran away.

It crosses my mind that although he is diabetic, he might very well have been drunk, as other passengers and the Amtrak staff thought he was. Diabetics don't usually act this way, do they? They usu. have an attack of sorts, start shaking, and then pass out if their insulin isn't brought within normal limits or something. They don't usually start acting drunk and engaging with other people, run off, remove their shoes and socks, etc. Or do they?

[badgerpup]

38. One of my former co-workers is a brittle diabetic...

...has an insulin pump, doesn't drink, watches her diet, all that good stuff...but she still has an insulin reaction every now and then.
Once she found herself at the local fairgrounds, surrounded by cop cars, with absolutely NO memory of how she got there.

Another time, she lay down to take a nap...woke up in hospital with bruises and a broken arm. Hubby had come home, found her on the floor and called in the cavalry.

It depends...

[Lerkfish]

40. low blood sugar episodes can affect behaviour

I'm a type 2 diabetic, and not as severe as some, although I probably have that to look forward to, but even I have had the following symptoms:

=extreme irrational irratibility
=lightheadedness
=disorientation


If I don't get something to eat, and the right something to eat pretty quickly, the symptoms worsen.

[IDemo]

42. How diabetics (sometimes) act:

When blood sugar drops low enough, the body responds by signaling the liver to release epinephrine (adrenaline). The combination of being highly adrenalized and basically witless is not pretty, particularly when you're the patient (:hi:). The urge to run or become violent can happen. I can recall the conversation of those around me sounding basically like duck quacks, all understanding of the words being spoken was lost on me.

Situations like this will usually happen shortly after taking a mealtime shot with fast-acting insulins, and missing the meal, eating too late, or not getting enough carbohydrates.

It's not always just getting shaky and nodding off..

[Miss Chybil]

28. Nah, I guess I just went off KO's report and ASSUMED I knew what the article actually said.

I guess Countdown doesn't give all the facts, either. So solly. Forgive me.

[laylah]

25. Bless his heart! and

may corporate America kiss my ass!

[bleever]

33. Whatsover you do to the least of my brothers.

Glad to hear that they found him.

[TexasLady]

45. My Dad is mildly diabetic

He's 65. I havent been around him when he's had complications, but my younger son has. They went on vacation together, just the two of them, and Dad's in pretty good shape. He's been a hiker/runner most of his adult life. Once, while hiking around Big Bend for just a couple miles one morning, Dad became sweaty, sick, and disoriented. They'd hiked about a mile, when this happened. My son had to run that whole mile down to the truck to bring him back some chocolate granola bars and a couple other things I don't remember. Dad had told him beforehand what to do just in case. My son was only 13 at the time, and was scared to death for his Grandpa, and I'd imagine for himself as well. Luckily I didn't know about it until they returned. I'd have been in a fit for BOTH their safety!