The Shane Train gets derailed: York 'cheerleader for the people' stopped by the cops

The Shane Train, as Shane de Garay is known, is fairly well known in these parts. He has an insurance business and a social media company that produces videos and live streams for a variety of community organizations and businesses. 

He's raised money for Give Local York and a number of other charitable organizations. He and some others are planning a fish fry to benefit local veterans. He takes doughnuts to the cops and sheriff's deputies. He knows a lot of people. He talks fast. He seems to be in constant motion, almost a blur, talking fast, jumping from topic to topic so quickly that you marvel at the fact that his vocal cords can keep up. One moment, he's talking about running and being "a cheerleader for the people" and then he swerves off into his social media following and his charitable work and how the cops love him and he respects them and how one city police lieutenant tells him to keep doing what he does and so on. It's difficult to keep up. 

Generally, he's a character. 

One thing he is known for is doing the Shane Train thing during his daily six-mile run along George Street, starting at York Hospital, running north to Route 30 and back again. He runs every day, part of what he calls "the whole thing." He used to be, in his words, "a crackhead," and running takes care of both his 48-year-old mind and body. He records his runs on his phone, logging 5,614 miles on 1,766 runs since he's started.

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Along the way, he pumps his fists above his head and twirls like Rocky, flashes the peace sign to people, makes the heart sign with his hands, mimes hitting a baseball over the fence and flexes, doing what he calls the Muscle Hustle – often as he is running through intersections. He says he does that to be "a cheerleader for the people." 

Now, that could be a matter of interpretation, as we will see. 

At about 9 a.m. Wednesday, he was running on North George Street, heading back to his Spring Garden Township home, behind York Hospital, after making his turn at Route 30, when he was pulled over by an officer with the Northern York County Regional Police Department.  

Story continues below, but first, watch The Shane Train's police encounter here.

The officer told Shane he tried to pull him over three times, according to a video Shane recorded of the stop with his phone and streamed to Instragram, but that Shane had ignored him. Shane replied he hadn't heard the officer, that he had his earbuds in and was listening to music. When he did see the officer, he said, he thought the cop was trying to pull over a silver Sebring that had a taillight out. 

The officer told him that he pulled him over for crossing the intersection, that he had impeded traffic and that motorists who were delayed had motioned to the officer, who was passing by on routine patrol, to do something about it. 

Shane told the officer that he is the Shane Train and that he should call "Central Station" or "his boss" to check it out. The officer reportedly asked him to get to the side of the road and repeated that "you're not allowed in the intersection." 

Shane objected and kept talking. That's just who he is. He has a lot of energy and he was pretty pumped from his run. 

Then the officer asked Shane to "put your hands behind your back. You're being detained." 

And the officer cuffed him. 

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The officer asked for his name, and Shane gave it to him, spelling his last name. The officer asked for his name several times during the course of the 15-minute stop. 

The officer told him he tried to stop him three times and Shane just kept running. Shane said he didn't see him. The officer said, yes, you did. 

The officer said, "You were running across the road, jumping up and down and doing crazy stuff." 

Shane said he is the Shane Train. 

The officer said, "I don’t know what the Shane Train is." 

Later, the officer said, "We see people run all the time, but you were doing some weird stuff," noting his mimicking of hitting a baseball. "That's strange behavior," the officer told him. 

Then the officer said, "When I stopped you, you gave me a lot of riff-raff." 

Shane asked the officer to apologize and the officer said he wasn't going to. 

Eventually, the officer let Shane go. 

Northern York County Regional Police pretty much confirmed that account, with a slightly different perspective. Lt. Dave Lash said the officer was on patrol when he saw Shane in the middle of the intersection of North George Street and 11th Avenue, doing jumping jacks and pumping his fists and miming hitting a home run. Other motorists were gesturing toward Shane and toward the officer, apparently impeded by Shane's display of enthusiasm. 

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The officer believed the display to be unusual and to warrant police attention. He had no idea what the deal was with the guy and wanted to check on him for his own safety. 

Lash said the officer tried to pull Shane over, but he didn't stop. Then, he said, when the officer caught up to him, he feared that Shane would try to run away before the officer could determine whether he was OK. The stop, Lash said, was pretty much made out of concern for Shane's well-being. So the officer cuffed Shane so he'd stay put. 

Once the officer determined that Shane presented no danger to himself or others, the officer cut him loose, with a warning to stay out of intersections for his own safety. 

Shane's video of the stop immediately attracted several hundred viewers, as he has thousands of followers on his various social media platforms. And Shane, for his part, was still upset, hours later.  

"They need to apologize to me," Shane told me. "I'm never running in Northern Regional again. (Bleep) them." 

Reach Mike Argento at 717-771-2046 or at mike@ydr.com.