Agree that this is outrageous, but the news report is a little misleading to those who don't know northern AZ. Seemslike the cop was trying to get himself a couple of headlines...
1 - the climate there at this time of year is mild (I camp around there most summers). If I had to choose anywhere in AZ/NV/CA/UT at this time of year to be dumped 5 miles from anywhere, then this place would be high on my list.
2 - The southern segement of the Kaibab NF is indeed ~1400 square miles (sounds a bit smaller than 800k acres, doesn't it !) but a lot of it is also open grassland. It is beautiful, but not one big pine forest as the story suggests.
Amtrak should not be dumping people any place other than a station for any reason, and I hope that what happened to this guy will lead to changes (and whoever is responsible being dismissed).