PHILADELPHIA _ Philadelphia Municipal Court President Judge Marsha Neifield on Thursday ordered the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office to reverse course and criminally charge Amtrak engineer Brandon Bostian with involuntary manslaughter and reckless endangerment.
Neifield issued the order following a hearing in which lawyers for victims of the May 12, 2015, derailment of Amtrak train 188 demanded that the case be reopened. On Tuesday, the DA's office had said that, following a lengthy investigation, investigators had concluded there was insufficient evidence to bring charges.
The following day, lawyers with the offices of Richard A. Sprague, a prominent city attorney and former first assistant district attorney, formally asked the DA's office to accept a criminal complaint filed by the husband and father of Rachel Jacobs, a young mother who was killed in the crash.
But the DA's office declined, setting the stage for Thursday's hearing before Neifield.
Plaintiffs lawyers Thomas R. Kline and Robert Mongeluzzi, who between them represented 32 victims in lawsuits against Amtrak, joined in the request for criminal charges against Bostian.
"We believe the DA's office was wrong in refusing to prosecute, and we think that the interests of justice requires that the criminal responsibility of the engineer needs to be decided by a jury," said Jordann Conaboy, a lawyer with Sprague's firm who attended the hearing.
