Posted on 05/15/2015 5:01:36 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
Investigators of Tuesday's deadly Amtrak derailment in Philadelphia reportedly have obtained a search warrant for the cell phone records of the train engineer in an effort to determine if he was distracted in the moments leading up to the fatal crash.
The Inquirer reported that police officials had discussed the possibility of pressing charges against Bostian as early in the investigation as Wednesday morning. However, the Philadelphia District Attorney's office decided there had not been enough evidence collected to do so.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
The phantom butt-dialer strikes again!
Seems a bit queer for the Conductor to hide those
records since the ‘phone was in the lock box’
according to his liar.
Might not his employer provide incentive for speeding? This would make more sense than blaming a speed-happy engineer.
Reports today are that investigators found that the operator sped up the train from 70 mph to over 100 mph one minute prior to entering the curve.
I personalty believe more now that this was a suicide attempt.
Post#4
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/3289719/posts?page=12
Amtrak Train Was Gaining Speed as It Approached Curve: NTSB
By M. Alex Johnson
Sumwalt said investigators had been able to piece together a timeline of the moments leading up to the derailment based on the train’s track image recorder, which is at the front of the locomotive.
One minute and five seconds before the recording ends, the train was traveling at 70 mph — and then it sped up, he said:
At 43 seconds before the recording ends, the train was up to 80 mph.
Twelve seconds later, it hit 90 mph.
And 15 seconds after that, it topped 100 mph, before engineer Brandon Bostian engaged the emergency brake.
“Mere seconds into the turn, we could see the train tilting approximately 10 degrees to the right and then the recording went blank,” Sumwalt said.
“Eight people were killed and over 200 were injured when Northeast Regional 188 derailed shortly after leaving Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station bound for New York. The National Transportation Safety Board revealed Thursday that the train had sped up from 70 mph until it reached more than 100 mph at a sharp bend where the maximum speed is supposed to be 50 mph.”
This doesn’t mean that he was hiding the records. Even with an account holder’s consent phone companies will generally only turn over these types of records with a warrant or subpoena.
“according to his liar.”
The day after the crash a major media outlet reported that his phone was in his bag as required by regulations.
Two days ago I read that he had stated that he took it out of his bag to make a 911 call after the accident.
I can assure you that Amtrak doesn’t put a high priority on meeting a schedule.
Find out if he was entertaining a guest in the engineer’s cab when he approached the scene of the crash at 106 mph.
How would his phone get in Al Gore’s lock box? :-|
Who was in the engine.with him? Which of the other four employees. was his friend?
It is also possible that the phone was damaged to the point that it was faster to get the records from the phone company rather than try to reconstruct the phone.
If I were a betting man, I'd say the odds are good that we are dealing with an engineer who was either sleeping or distracted.
For all the legitimate complaints you hear about excessive government regulation in general, the fact is that the U.S. railroad industry is very heavily regulated in a way that makes an investigation into this type of incident relatively simple. I'm sure the investigators knew within two hours of arriving on the scene that the engineer -- for one reason or another -- was the cause of this incident.
Republicans fault. If they would have spent more money on this boondoggle the accident never would have happened and the unicorns would still be jumping.
Pray America is waking
My guess - purely a guess - is a crazy suicide like the Germanwings pilot because of being rejected by his male lover(s) or catching him in an act of infidelity or some such. Then he threw on the brakes at the very end.
If this is in any way what happened then it’s too bad others died in his place.
“Even with an account holder’s consent phone companies will generally only turn over these types of records with a warrant or subpoena.”
I don’t know what paperwork was involved. However, one of my coworkers was murdered. (He was running an adult entertainment service and employment with us was a cover.) He was shot nine times in his home. The cops had the killers in hours. According to the article in the paper they simply asked the phone company what cell phones were in the home at the time. Then (apparently later, which might mean warrant) they got the texts and the underage girls he was trying out for fit texted he was naked and unarmed. Their pimps broke in and shot him as he bolted for his bedroom. (He had a special entertainment room for stay over guests.)
Criminals don’t seem to realize that their phone is producing a permanent record of their movements. (The rest of us too, apparently.)
Political Correctness kills again.
I think you're right. Time will tell. Side question: How many engineers are normally in the cab? Is it just one?
And do any other members of the train crew have easy access to the cab?
One can't assume a suicidal person would be thinking with calm logic. I can easily see anyone panicking just before the final moment and desperately trying to undo their act.
All they have to do is download the black box in the engine. It will tell them everything they need to know.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.