PHILADELPHIA (AP) – A Philadelphia judge has ordered prosecutors to charge the speeding Amtrak engineer involved in a 2015 derailment that killed eight people and injured about 200, days after they declined to do so.
Municipal Court Judge Marsha Neifield on Thursday ordered the arrest of engineer Brandon Bostian on involuntary manslaughter and reckless endangerment charges.
The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office had announced Tuesday, as the two-year deadline to bring charges loomed Friday, that it couldn’t prove Bostian acted with “conscious disregard” when he accelerated the train to 106 mph on a 50 mph curve.
That judgment call prompted civil lawyers representing the family of a technology executive killed to seek a private citizen’s complaint. They believe Bostian should be held accountable.
Otherwise, veteran lawyer Richard Sprague said, “it’s almost like inviting drivers of vehicles and cars to drive recklessly.”