Xinhua News Agency
WASHINGTON – An Amtrak engineer was acquitted on Friday, Mar. 4, by a jury in the deadly 2015 train derailment in Philadelphia, the largest city in U.S. state Pennsylvania.
Brandon Bostian, 38, was cleared of charges including causing a catastrophe, involuntary manslaughter, and reckless endangerment.
The derailment on May 12, 2015, killed eight passengers and injured more than 200 others.
Court documents showed Bostian “accelerated the train’s movement to a speed of 106 miles (about 170.6 km) per hour,” where the speed limit was less than half of that.
The train, according to the documents, was unable to navigate a curve, jumped the tracks, and derailed.
Investigators later determined Bostian was not impaired while he was in the driver’s seat and was not distracted by his phone.
Bostian’s lawyer argued the engineer was distracted by people throwing rocks in the area before the crash.
Amtrak, a federally chartered corporation, reached a settlement worth US$ 265 million in 2016 with families of victims who were killed or injured in the catastrophe. (Xinhua) – bny
