PHILADELPHIA — Jurors on Friday cleared a former Amtrak engineer of charges stemming from a deadly train derailment that claimed eight lives and left hundreds of others injured in 2015.
A jury deliberated for less than 90 minutes Friday before returning a not guilty verdict for Brandon Bostian, 38, who faced charges of causing a catastrophe, involuntary manslaughter and reckless endangerment in connection with the May 2015 derailment in Philadelphia, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Bostian was the sole engineer onboard Amtrak 188 on May 12, 2015, when the train rounded a curve at 106 mph – more than twice the speed limit, according to The Associated Press.
In court, prosecutors argued that Bostian showed reckless disregard for the safety of his 245 passengers, while defense attorneys argued that his client made an honest mistake while he was distracted by a report that another train had been struck by a projectile, the Inquirer reported.
In 2016, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a railroad accident report that they found no evidence that Bostian had been fatigued, on his cellphone, drunk or otherwise impaired at the time of the derailment. Instead, the group determined that Bostian likely believed he had exited the S-curve, where the speed limit was 50 miles per hour, and moved onto the tracks beyond, where the speed limit was 110 mph.
Bostian sped up the train “due to his loss of situational awareness likely because his attention was diverted to an emergency situation with another train,” according to the NTSB.
In the report, NTSB investigators said Bostian told them that he heard a radio broadcast about a Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority train that had been hit by a projectile in an area that Bostian was approaching. The train’s engineer made an emergency stop after being injured by broken glass.
Officials later determined that the train had been struck by rocks, according to the AP. No one was ever apprehended in connection to the incident.
On Friday, Bostian appeared emotional as he stood with his attorney, Brian McMonagle, outside the courthouse.
“We’ve said from the beginning that this was a terrible accident,” McMonagle said, according to WHYY. “A couple hundred people were forever changed by it, and a good man has been living the ordeal of being asked to pay for a crime he didn’t commit.”
In a statement obtained by the Inquirer, the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office – which prosecuted the case after Philadelphia’s top prosecutor declined to – said it respected the jury’s decision.
“There is no question that the excessive speed of the train that the defendant operated resulted in death and injury to his passengers,” the statement read. “Our goal throughout this long legal process was to seek justice for each and every victim, and help bring victims’ families and their loved ones closure.”
Tom Kline, an attorney who represented some of the Amtrak 188 derailment victims and their families, said Friday that the trial brought “public accountability” for the crash, according to the AP.
“There was an admission … that Mr. Bostian caused a terrible tragedy,” Kline said, according to WHYY. “That gives some measure of, I believe, comfort and closure to the families.”
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