GF man charged with stopping train

A Grand Forks man charged with disorderly conduct says he waved        a train down to inform the engineer that he was in violation of city ordinance for blocking the 42nd Street crossing for 24 minutes.

Grand Forks police were dispatched to a railroad crossing on the 5400 block of Demers Ave around 3:30 p.m. on Monday.   Officers were told the individual was shooting off some type of fireworks.

Roland Riemers says he was trying to make a citizen’s arrest of the rail employee and placed a lit a road flare on the tracks for safety reasons.  Employees on the train said it was Riemers on the tracks which prevented the train from moving.

Riemers says officers on scene wouldn’t accept the citizen’s arrest and the engineer was never cited.  He recently appeared before the Grand Forks council to complain about trains blocking city streets for extended periods of time.

Riemers says not only did he have to post $326 dollars bond to get out of jail –  the railroad had his car towed costing $160 dollars to get it out of the impound lot.

The incident remains under investigation.