LOS ANGELES (KNX) — A former train engineer at the Port of Los Angeles was sentenced to three years in prison on Wednesday for intentionally running a train at full speed off the tracks. The defendant was reportedly motivated by the idea that a Navy hospital ship docked nearby was part of a possible “government takeover.”
Eduardo Moreno, 46, of San Pedro, told FBI agents that he ran the train off the track in March 2020 out of a desire to “wake people up” because the ship was “suspicious” and “not what they say it’s for,” according to court filings.
When the California Highway Patrol contacted Moreno in the immediate aftermath of the crash, he reportedly made a series of statements, including, "You only get this chance once. The whole world is watching. I had to. People don't know what's going on here. Now they will.”
No one was injured in connection with the incident and the ship, the USNS Mercy, was not damaged. The train did leak fuel that required a hazmat cleanup, however.
The Mercy docked at the Port of L.A. on March 27, 2020. Its 1,000 hospital beds were used to potentially address overflow at Southern California hospitals full to capacity with COVID-19 patients. The hospital ship did not treat any COVID-19 patients, however.
Moreno was ordered to pay $755,880 in restitution to Pacific Harbor Line, the railroad company that owned the train.
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