Charges Against Amtrak Engineer In 2015 Crash Dismissed

PHILADELPHIA – The charges against Brandon Bostian, the Amtrak engineer who piloted the doomed train that derailed, crashed, killed eight, and injured about 200 others in May 2015 have been dropped, according to court records.

Bostian, 33, appeared before Judge Thomas F. Gehret in a Philadelphia court Tuesday, Sept. 12 after turning himself in to authorities on May 18. And on Sept. 12, Gehret dismissed the charges filed against him, according to court records.

All charges filed against Bostian were dropped due to lack of evidence.

Bostian faced changes of charges of involuntary manslaughter and recklessly endangering others in connection with the crash.

Bostian was initially slated to appear for his hearing in June, court records show.

Earlier in September, Bostian and his attorney filed a motion to have the case tossed, but their attempt was unsuccessful.

The Philadelphia District Attorney's Office had originally determined not to file charges against Bostian, stating that they could not prove any criminal intent in the engineer's actions on that fateful day, May 12, 2015.

However, lawyers for the victims in the crash protested and forced a hearing, which eventually led Philadelphia Municipal Court President Judge Marsha Neifield to overturn the DA's Office ruling and order charges filed.

The Philadelphia DA's Office recused themselves from the case, given that they had decided not to press charges in the first place. Attorney General Josh Shapiro increased the charges to eight counts of involuntary manslaughter, to go along with the charge of catastrophe and multiple charges of reckless endangerment.

"I commend our outstanding team in the Office of Attorney General who worked diligently and thoughtfully around the clock to enable us to be in this position to pursue justice on behalf of the victims of this deadly crash," Shapiro said in a statement.

An investigation determined that Bostian lost track of where he was while operating the train, and mistakenly increased the train's speed to 106 miles an hour heading into a turn with a speed limit of 50 miles
per hour.

The train flipped over on its side near Frankford Junction.

Photo courtesy of NTSB