Police arrest local man for threatening railroad crew

By MIKE WELAND

For the Herald

A 33-year-old Bonners Ferry man living next to the railroad tracks became chagrined over the din of a Union Pacific train signaling the Riverside railroad crossing Feb. 26, and he apparently let that ire get a bit out of hand.

Joseph Barany now resides a few hundred feet further away from the train that riled him, sitting in the Boundary County Jail on $200,000 bond on a charge of aggravated assault.

According to court documents, Barany was sitting on his front porch when the train went by at about 5:30 p.m. Monday, when, angered by the train's whistle, he "flipped the bird" at the engineer.

From that point on, the various stories diverge. Barany told sheriffs deputy Donald VanMeter, who responded as the city officer was busy with another call, that the engineer returned the gesture, which made him even angrier.

Barany's wife, Jody, told the deputy that her husband and the train crew got into a verbal argument; one of the men crossed the fence into their yard, and that her husband was defending their property.

According to engineer Jeremiah Watson, Spokane, he was blowing the horn for the Riverside crossing and saw a man sitting on the porch of a home near the crossing flip him off.

"He seemed to get more upset as I kept blowing the horn," Watson wrote in his statement. "He jumped up, and it looked like he had a gun. He chased the train and tried to jump on the ladder of the second engine, so I sped up and he missed, falling on his face. He got up screaming."

Conductor Patrick Wuebbles, also of Spokane, wrote in his statement that the man attempted to board the train after throwing rocks and bottles at the train. Wuebbles wrote that while on the back of the train he asked the man what was wrong, and said Barany shouted back at him, "tell that (expletive deleted) to come back here!"

"He then ran into the house, and I told the engineer to get moving," Wuebbles wrote. When the man came back out, Wuebbles continued, he was brandishing a pistol, and at one point aimed it in his direction.

Both railroaders said the incident made them feel their lives had been threatened.

After listening to the differing versions of the story, VanMeter arrested Barany, charging him with aggravated assault for allegedly brandishing the .45-caliber pistol.

If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison and/or a $5,000 fine.