A 17-year-old boy is facing two counts of vandalism in Lancaster County Juvenile Court in Nebraska after allegedly causing a train to derail. The case is being covered by several US media outlets, including NBC News, which said prosecutors want to see the case transferred to adult court.
The case dates back to April 21, when the BNSF Railway learned that two locomotives and five carriages had derailed in the town of Bennett after colliding with an empty carriage. The derailment caused an estimated $350,000 in damage. Switch was misaligned and had been “tampered with”
The train’s engineer told a BNSF Railway investigator that when he noticed a track switch was out of its normal position, he diverted the train off its scheduled route and even attempted to apply an emergency brake, moments before it derailed.
Investigators later concluded that the switch was in fact in the wrong position.
The system also did not have a safety brake that it should have, which led investigators to believe that the switch had been “tampered with,” according to NTV News and KLKN-TV.
The teenager in question is a railroad enthusiast who creates content about the industry on social media. He caught the attention of investigators because he was at the scene when the derailment occurred, so he was questioned.
He reportedly denied trespassing on the railroad tracks, despite knowing where the switch was and how it worked.
Three days later, investigators uncovered surveillance footage showing the teen arriving at the scene before the derailment and walking toward the switch. The teen is then seen on the surveillance footage, returning to his car, which he later parked at a different location near the tracks, where he set up his equipment and recorded the incident. Lancaster County Prosecutor Pat Condon told KOLN-TV that the teen is not in custody. A court date has not yet been set.
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