The former Amtrak engineer who operated the bullet train that derailed in Philadelphia in 2015, killing eight people, was acquitted Friday of manslaughter and related charges.
The jury’s verdict was the culmination of a case full of twists and turns as the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office tried to prosecute former engineer Brandon Bostian on more than 200 charges, including a count of causing the crash.
Mr. Bostian was driving a Washington-New York train on May 12, 2015, when he accelerated the train to 106 mph when it entered a curved section of track with a 50 mph speed limit.
The train derailed and entered the Port Richmond area of Philadelphia. Eight people were killed and more than 200 were injured.
The National Transportation Safety Board identified Mr. Bostian’s actions as the likely cause of the crash and said he lost “situational awareness” when his attention was diverted.
Mr. Bostian’s lawyer, Brian McMonagle, argued that “criminals” had been throwing stones at passenger trains in the area shortly before the crash and that radio broadcasts of these reports caused Mr. Bostian to be distracted by “the madness of what was going on.” on rails.”
Mr McMonagle said Friday his client has been wondering for seven years if he would ever come back to life. “Today, the jury gave him back his future,” McMonagle said.
“Brandon made the mistake of being distracted and that’s not a crime,” he said. “I explained to the jury that good people make honest mistakes every day, and this is not criminal behavior.”
Thomas R. Kline, a lawyer who has represented some of the victims and their families, said Friday it was important for them to hear from Mr. Bostian’s lawyer that his client had made a mistake.
“There is evidence that he accelerated his train as it approached the most dangerous turn in the eastern corridor,” Mr. Kline said. “He was negligent and the jury concluded that it was not criminal negligence.”
Josh Shapiro, Pennsylvania’s attorney general, said Friday his office respects the jury’s verdict.
“There is no doubt that the excessive speed of the train driven by the defendant resulted in the death and injury of its passengers,” the statement said. “Our goal throughout this lengthy legal process has been to get justice for every victim and to help close the families of the victims and their loved ones.”
In October 2016, Amtrak agreed to pay up to $265 million to victims and their families in one of the largest train derailment settlements in the United States.
But in May 2017, the Philadelphia District Attorney declined to file charges against Mr. Bostian, saying he believed there was not enough evidence to show that Mr. Bostian knowingly ignored a “substantial and unjustified risk.”
Later that month, Mr. Shapiro indicted Mr. Bostian, but only after the families of the victims cited a state law that forced the authorities to act. The charges were then dropped twice.
In the first ruling, in September 2017, Philadelphia Municipal Court Judge Thomas F. Gereth concluded that Mr. Bostian was not criminally responsible for the crash. The judge stated that the episode appeared to have been an accident.
In a second case in July 2019, Judge Barbara McDermott of the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas ruled that Mr. Bostian’s mistakes were not a crime. “The law recognizes that we are all human,” the judge said, according to the Associated Press.
But in May 2020, Judge Victor P. Stabile of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court found that Judge McDermott had mishandled evidence that should have been heard in court and sent the case back to trial court for a jury trial.