Expand / Collapse search
☰

Amtrak engineer Bostian surrenders to authorities

Published  May 18, 2017 5:34pm EDT
U.S.
FOX 29 Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA (WTXF/AP) - The Amtrak engineer accused in 2015's deadly Amtrak crash in Port Richmond turned himself in to authorities on, Thursday.

Brandon Bostian was charged with causing a catastrophe, involuntary manslaughter and other crimes in the May 12, 2015, derailment that happened after he accelerated to 106 mph on a 50 mph curve.

Last week, state prosecutors said they were in talks with engineer Bostian's lawyer to have him surrender on the charges.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro expanded on charges a Philadelphia judge approved after the family of a woman killed in the crash -- one of eight killed -- sought a private criminal complaint.

The judge ordered city prosecutors to charge Bostian with two misdemeanors over Rachel Jacobs' death in the , derailment. Shapiro added the felony charge of risking or causing a catastrophe, along with seven additional counts of involuntary manslaughter.

Earlier, Philadelphia prosecutors had decided not to charge Bostian. They cited insufficient evidence he acted with intent or conscious disregard for the passengers' safety. Besides eight deaths, the crash injured about 200 others. Jacobs, a technology executive, was a wife and mother.

Court records listed addresses for Bostian in New York City and in Somerville, Massachusetts.

Amtrak took responsibility for the crash and agreed to pay $265 million to settle claims filed by victims and their families.

Bostian himself has a personal-injury lawsuit pending against Amtrak. He said he was left disoriented or unconscious when something struck his train before it derailed. He'd become aware, through radio traffic, a nearby SEPTA train had been struck by a rock. But the National Transportation Safety Board concluded nothing struck his locomotive.

Private criminal complaints are occasionally used in low-level crimes not witnessed by police or, sometimes, when charges are not filed for political reasons, experts said.

"The private complaint mechanism exists for cases where the police can't make an arrest and, arguably, for cases where they won't but they should," said Jules Epstein, a Temple University law professor.