Jun 29, 2007 5:10 pm US/Eastern
Diabetic Man Found After Being Kicked-Off Amtrak
WILLIAMS, Ariz. (AP) ―
A 65-year-old St. Louis man who disappeared Sunday night in northern Arizona after being escorted off an Amtrak train bound for Los Angeles has been found in the area where he got off the train.
The Williams Police Department said a sheriff's deputy who had been involved in a search for Roosevelt Sims spotted him about 9:40 p.m. Thursday night walking along the railroad track some three miles southeast of Williams.
A dispatcher said Friday that Sims was taken to Flagstaff Regional Medical Center for evaluation.
Sims reportedly was forced off the train because train personnel believed he was drunk, although family members say he was likely in a diabetic shock.
Amtrak issued a statement saying it followed company policy in escorting Sims off the Sunset Chief Sunday night at Williams Junction during a regularly scheduled stop. It said police were called, and that a conductor waited on the platform with Sims and his luggage for officers to arrive. When they did, Sims ran into the nearby woods, the statement said.
Sims' wife said that the day before her husband left St. Louis, a doctor diagnosed him diabetic. She said he sounded disoriented when she talked to him by cell phone on Monday, the day after he was put off the train.
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