Roland Riemers, arrested for confronting train, says engineer was violating city ordinance

Oct. 13—GRAND FORKS — A man arrested while confronting a train in Grand Forks on Monday, Oct. 10, said he was attempting to enforce a city ordinance that prohibits trains from blocking railroad crossings for more than 10 minutes.

Roland Riemers, a multi-time political candidate, was arrested for disorderly conduct in the 5400 block of DeMers Avenue on Monday afternoon after the Grand Forks Police Department received reports of a man blocking the train from moving.

Riemers told the Herald the disorderly conduct charge is "totally bogus."

"Especially since I was there for a legitimate reason," he said. "If I was there to harass the railroad crew, yeah, that'd be disorderly conduct."

Since his arrest, Riemers submitted a response to the GFPD, telling his side of the story. He provided the Herald with a copy. On Thursday, Oct. 13, Riemers withdrew part of the response, but stands by the rest.

According to a report sent to the media by the Grand Forks Police Department, officers were dispatched at 3:21 p.m. to the railroad crossing in the 5400 block of DeMers Avenue after "a report was received of a man blocking the train from moving. The report was that some type of fireworks were being shot off by the man also."

The police report said that when officers arrived, contact was made with a man the GFPD identified as Riemers, "who wanted to make a citizen's arrest because the train was blocking the street."

In the first document that Riemers provided to the Herald, he said he saw the train stopped on the North side of DeMers, blocking the 42nd Street North railroad crossing for more than 24 minutes. After seeing no accident that was stopping the train, he said, he got ahead of it to inform the engineer he was violating a city ordinance prohibiting trains from blocking railroad crossings for extended amounts of time.

Riemers referenced Grand Forks city ordinance 8-1002, which reads as follows: "No railroad company, corporation, engineer, conductor, track master, or other person shall cause or allow any locomotive engine or railroad car of any kind whatsoever, to stop upon or remain in or upon any of the streets, avenues, or alleys of this city for a longer time than ten (10) minutes at any one (1) time, and then only when it is absolutely necessary, to prevent accidents or to avoid injury to persons or property."

In the document he sent to the Herald, Riemers clarified that he didn't possess fireworks, but "as I did not want to get run over by the train, I lit an emergency flare on the tracks for safety."

Riemers wrote he attempted a citizen's arrest of the train engineer after the engineer started taking photos of Riemers' license plate. Soon thereafter, two Grand Forks police officers arrested Riemers.

In his response that he sent to police, Riemers calls for the engineer to be cited for violating the city ordinance and resisting arrest. He also wants the responding GFPD officers to be cited for not following the requirements of a citizen's arrest, and for one of the responding officers to be charged with "official oppression under color of law" for arresting him.

In the initial incident report, the GFPD said Riemers was arrested for disorderly conduct, but that other charges were possible. On Wednesday, Paulette Casavan, clerk of the Grand Forks Municipal Court, confirmed Riemers had only been charged with a Class B misdemeanor, which is handled in municipal court.

Grand Forks Police Lt. Andrew Stein said he is aware of the city ordinance prohibiting trains from blocking railroad crossings for more than 10 minutes, but does not know of any time it has been cited.

"It's definitely not something that we deal with on a day-to-day basis by any stretch," he said.

The state has a law, similar to the Grand Forks ordinance, that prohibits trains from blocking railroad crossings for more than 10 minutes, except in case of emergency.

On Thursday, Riemers announced he was partially withdrawing a portion of the response that he delivered Tuesday to the GFPD and the Herald, specifically the part calling for the train engineer to be cited for violating the city ordinance. He said that although city and state law prohibits trains from blocking crossings for more than 10 minutes, similar laws in other states have been struck down on the grounds that the federal Interstate Commerce Commission Termination Act preempts all state and local laws regulating railroads.

"So there is absolutely no doubt that the railroad would win out in any appeal of these clear violations," Riemers wrote.

On Wednesday, Riemers — in a telephone interview with the Herald — said that an Ohio law, similar to the North Dakota state law, had been deemed unenforceable by the Ohio Supreme Court earlier this year.

On Aug. 17 of this year, the Ohio Supreme Court struck down a state law that prohibited trains from stopping for more than five minutes because it overlaps with the Interstate Commerce Commission Termination Act and the Federal Railroad Safety Act, a federal policy that governs railroad safety.

"So, we've lost the battle as far as that goes," said Riemers.

In his Thursday announcement, Riemers said he is not withdrawing his complaints that say he believes the train engineer resisted arrest and the police did not do their statutory or professional duties.

Riemers has made a number of runs for political office, including sheriff, U.S. House, secretary of state, state auditor and governor, among others. In 1996, he gained 656 votes as a Democratic candidate for president in the North Dakota primary.

He was a candidate for Grand Forks School Board earlier this year.