PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A jury has found a former Amtrak engineer whose train derailed in Northeast Philadelphia in 2015 not guilty of a crime for his role in the deadly accident.
Brandon Bostian was engineering the train when the crash happened in the Frankford Curve. The crash killed eight people and injured more than 200.
Bostian appeared to be on the verge of tears after jurors acquitted him on eight counts of causing a catastrophe, eight counts of involuntary manslaughter, and 240 counts of reckless endangerment in the derailment.
Defense attorney Brian McMonagle argued he was distracted by radio traffic about trespassers on the rails throwing rocks at trains, and he momentarily lost track of where he was and accelerated when he should have slowed down for the Frankford curve.
"We’ve said from the beginning this was a terrible accident," said McMonagle after the verdict. "It affected the lives of great people. People died, a couple hundred people were forever changed by it, and a good man has been living the ordeal of being asked to pay for a crime he didn’t commit."
McMonagle said his client was too choked up to speak, but was grateful to the jury.
"We’re just relieved, and this restores our faith in the American jury system," he said. "This jury understood that this was an accident and not a crime."
Deliberations had to start over after about three hours of initial deliberations. Judge Barbara McDermott announced that one of the jurors had to be dismissed because his sister died Thursday night. Although he said he’d tried to weigh the case, he told a clerk he did not have the ability to continue.
The judge called in an alternate, and the jury restarted. They took little more than an hour to acquit Bostian.
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Amtrak settled the civil litigation with victims and their families for $265 million, a higher limit set by Congress after the crash.
The case was previously dismissed twice, and the Philadelphia District Attorney declined to prosecute, but the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office took the case.
“There is no question that the excessive speed of the train that the defendant operated resulted in death and injury to his passengers," said Attorney General Josh Shapiro after the verdict came.
"Our goal throughout this long legal process was to seek justice for each and every victim, and help bring victims’ families and their loved ones closure. Ultimately, the jury did not find his actions to be criminal, and we respect the jury’s verdict.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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