A 17-year-old teenager in the US has been accused of intentionally derailing a train so he could record it and post it on YouTube. According to court documents, the Nebraska teenager allegedly derailed the train, recorded the incident and shared the footage on YouTube. Metro informed of.
The incident took place in April this year, when the teenager allegedly tampered with the rail switch, causing two locomotives and five fully loaded coal trains to derail and collide with an empty coal train. He then reported the derailment to the authorities and asked the investigator what had caused the accident. He told the investigator that he is a train buff and showed him the video of the derailment.
When officials said they did not know what caused the derailment, the boy said, “Apparently the switch was turned in the wrong direction.”
A BNSF Railway investigator found that the padlock attached to the switch was missing, indicating tampering. Three days later, a BNSF investigator obtained CCTV footage that showed a juvenile in the area surrounding a 1996 Buick Park Avenue vehicle walking toward the switch at the south end of the tracks. The juvenile was later recorded returning to his vehicle, according to the affidavit.
An investigator said a video of the derailment was posted on a YouTube account believed to be linked to the teen. Authorities also found that a tripod was set up near the accident site just four minutes before the train derailed. The derailment cost BNSF Railway and the Omaha Public Power District $350,000 in damages. NBC News.
The 17-year-old was charged Wednesday in Lancaster County Juvenile Court, but prosecutors have requested the case be transferred to adult court. He faces two felony counts of criminal mischief in connection with the derailment.
“My office will file a motion to transfer the case to adult court and it will be up to the juvenile court judge to decide whether to transfer the case or keep it in juvenile court,” Lancaster County Attorney Patrick Condon said. McClatchy News.
