Posted on 08/01/2024 9:38:47 AM PDT by Gamecock
LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN/Gray News) - A 17-year-old boy is charged with tampering with a train rail and then filming the train derailment.
According to the complaint, the Omaha Public Power District and BNSF Railway as the two entities who suffered damages in the case.
Investigators say on April 21, a BNSF train came off the rails at the railroad crossing near Monroe and Juniper Streets at 6:10 p.m. Two locomotives and five fully loaded railcars came off the rails but remained upright as they collided with an empty railcar.
A 17-year-old boy and train enthusiast was at the scene, filming the derailment, according to court documents. He shared the video with KOLN following the derailment.
An investigator with the BNSF Railway Police spoke to the train’s conductor after the derailment. He told authorities that he spotted a switch which had been misaligned, leading the rail from an eastbound route onto an industry track.
The conductor tried to make an emergency stop but didn’t have enough time before the train reached the switch location, leading to a derailment and collision with an empty coal car.
A padlock was supposed to be attached to the switch, but the investigator discovered it was missing. Then, the investigator was approached by the 17-year-old while at the scene.
The teen, who had reported the derailment, asked the investigator what had happened. When the investigator said that the cause was undetermined, he said, “Obviously a switch was flipped the wrong way,” according to the warrant.
He also told the investigator that he was a train enthusiast and showed the video he had taken of the derailment. The teen denied trespassing in the area and tampering with the switch, but the investigator wrote that he knew where the switch was and how it worked.
Authorities later went through surveillance video from the area and discovered a vehicle and a lone driver traveling around the area just before the derailment.
The warrant shows that the 17-year-old was seen in a 1996 Buick Park Avenue before setting up his camera. A tripod was set up near the crossing just four minutes before the train derailed, investigators wrote.
In May, investigators matched the vehicle seen in the surveillance footage with the boy’s Park Avenue, court records show.
Investigators say based on the evidence, a search warrant was filed against the teen. Investigators sought potential video evidence from the boy’s phone and digital camera.
The teen was arrested and faces two counts of criminal mischief $5,000+, with each count considered as a class IV felony.
According to the complaint, the derailment caused a total of $350,000 in damages between the power district’s rail and BNSF’s engines and cars.
Lancaster County Attorney Pat Condon says a motion has been filed to move the case from juvenile court to county court. Condon said his office intends to try the teen as an adult.
Does grammar count?
“The medium is the message.”
No name and no ‘description’ given. Hmmmm
Gone are the days when teens used to put a penny on the tracks.
No name and no ‘description’ given. Hmmmm
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Oh they gave a description all right. The headline says (T)een.
So - he’s black.
Yep officer, I did... I mean saw, the whole thing. I even set up my camera beforehand to video it.
my oldest brother who grew up in the 1960s, would hop rail cars with friends, hobo-style, and ride them until the train stopped, or they were discovered. He and a friend once rode an empty box-car from downstate NY all the way to Cincinnati, Ohio. They hitch-hiked back. I was so young, I only remember my parents freaking-out.
I can't say it was common back then, but its the sort of thing one simply doesn't hear about any more.
I used to hitchhike all over the place, and you don’t see that anymore either.
Different times, for sure.
He must have seen the movie “Super 8”
I kind of liked the movie...:)
Thank good ness the train wasn’t filled with HAZMAT.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqQczix1Pf4
Regular railfans will now have to be vigilant as the Yard Bulls will be out looking for anything amiss....
Railroad cops (Agents) - https://www.npstc.org/download.jsp?tableId=37&column=217&id=3198&file=RR_Police_IO_Mission_Critical_Comm_Sept_2014.pdf
like regular cops and with guns.
I’m surprise this wasn’t called a “prank”.
And the movie is worth watching for the train wreck scene alone...one of the most gripping I have seen in a movie...on par with the train derailment in “The Fugitive”.
Um... I think the lack of description is because he's from Nebraska and he's a train enthusiast. I'm just surprised he's not in his 40s and featured on a Progressive Becoming Their Parents commercial...
Box cars are almost extinct.
I live in an area with heavy train traffic and I rarely see box cars and rarely see them rolling with the door open.
Empty box cars rolling with the doors open was common back in the 1960s.
My Father was a telegrapher for the Southern Pacific for over 40 years and also a World War veteran of Patton’s 3rd Army.
He used to call the SP Police the GESTAPO!
We were raised to NEVER mess with SP property or procedures, or we would just disappear.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1Kkhoq9kxs
I think this shows his video. He looks white, but could be very light black or Hispanic. I guess they don’t give much information on him, because he is a minor, even if he is tried as an adult.
Back in the 1980’s, in Fort Lauderdale, 3 youths were able to figure out how to hot wire a railroad switch. This switch took trains off the main line onto a short side rail used for unloading freight.
They sat back and watched as a huge, speeding freight train whipped through the switch, onto the side rail, past the end of side rail, through Florinada Road, and into the Borden Dairy. Miraculously, no one was killed.
My best friend’s brother was one of those involved. Things did not go well for their family for quite a long time.
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