Lakeysha beard arrested
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.
Source: kval
