Duane Kerzic is one of the most talkative people I’ve known.
After he was arrested for photographing an Amtrak train in December, I found his story on his website and noticed he had listed his phone number. I called and he answered immediately and I spent an hour interviewing him.
And later that night, as I was working on the article, I called him again to ask more questions and we talked for an additional 30 minutes.
And as I was putting the finishing touches on the article that would eventually make the front page of various news aggregating sites, crashing my server in the process, he responded to my followup questions via email within minutes. And since the article came out, I’ve talked to Kerzic various times on the phone for extended periods of time.
But suddenly Kerzic doesn’t want to talk.
The man known for leaving War and Peace length comments on this blog is suddenly speechless.
The man who was seen walking his cat on The Colbert Report appears to have had his tongue snatched by that same cat.
The man who published every detail of his arrest on his website, including letters to outgoing president George W. Bush and incoming president Barack Obama, has removed his site from the internet with the following explanation:
“No comment!”
Last week, when I called Kerzic to inquire about his February 5th hearing, he gave me the same response:
“No comment”.
This is how the conversation went:
Me: How did the hearing go?
Kerzic: “No comment.”
Me:“Did you actually have a hearing?
Kerzic: “No comment.”
Me: “Is this the same Duane Kerzic that was arrested by Amtrak police after he photographed Amtrak trains as he was participating in an Amtrak photo contest?”
Kerzic: “No comment.”
So I called Kerzic’s attorney, Gerald Cohen, who had represented another man who had been arrested by Amtrak police for photographing trains in which he ended up with a several thousand dollar settlement from Amtrak.
Me:What happened in yesterday’s court hearing?
Cohen: “No comment”
So it’s obvious that Amtrak made Kerzic an offer he couldn’t refuse.
After all, silence is golden.
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I am a multimedia journalist who has been fighting a lengthy legal battle after having photographed Miami police against their wishes in Feb. 2007. Please help the fight by donating to my Legal Defense Fund in the top left sidebar. And feel free to join my Facebook blog network to keep updated on the latest articles.
