"What are we supposed to do?  He's like, 'I don't know what you're supposed to do.  I don't care.  You guys have to get off right now," said 15-year-old Carley Maestas.  "We were scared out of our minds.  I said, 'Wow. What am I gonna do?  I'm the oldest and I have no idea."

So at 2:00 a.m. Saturday morning, they called their parents in Taos.

"These kids were scared to death there in the middle of nowhere at 3 o'clock in the morning," said Peter Sharfin, parent of one of the boys. "Carley, the 15 year old is crying. Anthony is getting ready to cry. My son Chris is freaking out." The teens' parents say the only option was to drive the 600 miles from Taos to Kingman and pick the kids up. During the drive, Sharfin made repeated calls to Amtrak.

"I finally was able to speak with the conductor a little bit, and he told me that he has all the authority to throw anyone off the train no matter what," he said.

Amtrak says the conductor was justified in his actions.

"Amtrak has a policy when passengers are behaving in such a manner that it... jeopardizes the safety of other passengers, that those passengers are removed from the train," said Amtrak spokeswoman Vernae Graham.

The teens spent 12 hours at the Kingman Police Department waiting for the parents to make the long drive from Taos to get them.

The iPod at the center of the controversy turned up on the train. None of the teens were charged with any crime.

The teens' parents say they are planning a lawsuit against Amtrak over the incident.

By: Cris Ornelas, Eyewitness News 4, and Kurt Christopher, KOB.com
Posted at: 07/21/2007 10:40:37 PM