BATTLE CREEK, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — A Battle Creek Police official is critical of Amtrak for kicking a 13-year-old from Lapeer off a train because she was too young to travel alone.
A week ago today, Renee Van Tress planned to spend her spring break with an uncle in Chicago and her mother failed to notify train officials that she would be riding alone.
Corporal Joe Wilder says they waited until she was 2-1/2 hours from home to boot her off the train.
Van Tress waited at Police Headquarters until her mother drove from Lapeer to Battle Creek to collect the pre-teen and return home.
Amtrak says the policy is to prevent runaways or girls that are being trafficked from using trains.
(copy written by John McNeill)
