PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A judge has reinstated all charges brought against an Amtrak engineer for his role in a high-speed derailment in Philadelphia that killed eight people.
The ruling Thursday by Superior Court Judge Victor Stabile overturns a lower court’s decision last July to dismiss the involuntary manslaughter and reckless endangerment charges against Brandon Bostian. His lawyer, Brian McMonagle, has argued that any mistakes Bostian made did not rise to the level of a crime.
Ruling on an appeal brought by the state attorney general’s office, Stabile found the dismissal was based on fact-finding that should happen in a trial, a decision that McMonagle said would be appealed. Stabile said the lower court’s role was only to determine whether the state presented enough evidence to warrant a trial, and prosecutors met that burden, he ruled.
The derailment happened in May 2015, when the New York-bound train jumped the track as it rounded a curve at more than twice the 50 mph (80 kph) speed limit.
National Transportation Safety Board investigators concluded Bostian lost his bearings while distracted by radio chatter about a nearby train that had been struck by a rock. They found no evidence he was impaired or was using a cellphone.