Amtrak Engineer Brandon Bostian To Stand Trial In Deadly 2015 Train Derailment In Port Richmond
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Nearly seven years after the deadly Amtrak derailment in Philadelphia, the train's engineer is going on trial. He's facing numerous counts of manslaughter and could see jail time if convicted.
Jury selection begins Thursday morning in the trial of Amtrak 188 Engineer Brandon Bostian.
The landmark case strikes at the heart of events surrounding the 2015 railway disaster in the city's Port Richmond section that left eight dead and injured scores.
The National Transportation Safety Board concluded Bostian lost awareness as other trains in the area of this sharp curve were pelted with rocks.
Attorney Tom Kline filed a private criminal complaint years ago after the DA's office declined to prosecute.
"I am not passing judgment on Mr. Bostian's final fate," Kline said. "That's for a jury. I can tell you that an appeals court made a decision in this case that the evidence is sufficient to be presented to a jury."
The trial will come down to a single question: Why accelerate?
Defense attorneys claim that Bostian was something known as situationally unaware, believing that he already made it through the curve., but attorneys who want justice for those killed and hurt say accelerated was the last thing that should have happened. They call that reckless.
Attorney Brian McMonagle represents Bostian -- and says his client, in facing numerous counts of manslaughter, could see significant jail time if convicted.
"A SEPTA train was disabled by a stoning," McMonagle said. "An Acela train traveling in the other direction was stoned. And our client, my client, navigated his train through that chaos."
The trial is expected to last a week.
A spokesperson for the attorney general's office prosecuting the case declined to comment.