A Tennessee man was arrested for allegedly trying to steal a train that was occupied by Amtrak employees Tuesday night, police said.
Joseph Seigle, 43, broke into the conductor’s car of a train at the Amtrak station on North Tryon Street just before midnight.
Two Amtrak employees were sitting in their office when they heard the train horn go off, according to court documents.
It was then that the station supervisor, Nicholas Pope, sprang into action and called police.
Documents say once police caught up to to Seigle, he claimed all he did was press the button to sound the train horn.
Pope disagreed saying that a brake lever had been moved, indicating the man tried to move the train while a cleaning crew was still on board.
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Desiree Swann told Channel 9’s Eli Brand that she had just taken a trip on an Amtrak Wednesday when she heard the news. She said the biggest issue is that someone was able to get into the conductors car in the first place.
“A sane person wouldn’t just try to go and steal a train,” Swann said. “That’s not common sense.”
Seigle was charged with attempted kidnapping and trespass on railroad right of way, according to the police report.
Amtrak responded to the incident by saying, “there was no ‘attempted train theft,’ however, someone was trespassing onboard an empty train while it was being cleaned and was promptly asked to leave by a crew member.”
There were no injuries or issues, according to Amtrak.
Regardless, Swann says the entire situation is unusual.
“Whoever he is, he’s going through something,” he said. “That ain’t normal.”
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