- A 17-year-old told investigators he recorded the April 21 derailment
- He is now charged with criminal damage over $5,000
A teenager is accused of deliberately derailing a train in Nebraska and recording it and posting it on YouTube.
The 17-year-old, who has not been identified because he is a minor, had his cellphone and a 4K digital recorder confiscated by a BNSF Railway investigator on July 8 in connection with the derailment months earlier. Fox Nebraska reports.
He reportedly told investigators at the scene of the April 21 derailment that he had captured the Bennett crash, in which two locomotives and five fully loaded coal trains went off the tracks but remained upright.
They then struck an empty coal car parked on the siding before coming to a stop, according to an affidavit obtained by Fox Nebraska.
A teenager has been charged with causing a train derailment in Bennet, Nebraska on April 21
A train conductor told a railroad investigator after the collision that his train was traveling eastbound and approaching a level crossing when he noticed a switch was crooked.
The switch caused the train to end up on an industrial track, next to a grain silo.
The conductor stated that he attempted to make an emergency stop, but the emergency stop was not activated until the train reached the switch point and the train crashed as a result.
The investigator later discovered that a padlock that should have been attached to the switch was missing, indicating it had been tampered with. KOLN reports.
Meanwhile, the teenager arrived at the scene and asked about the derailment, saying he had captured the crash on his phone.
When authorities said they didn’t know the cause of the derailment, the boy responded, according to the affidavit, “Apparently a switch was turned the wrong way.”
Investigators said the teen’s video, later posted to a YouTube account believed to be the boy’s, shows the scene before, during and after the crash.
The boy denied that he had committed burglary or that he had manipulated the switch, but the investigator on the scene indicated that he knew where the switch was located and how it worked.
Two locomotives and five fully loaded coal trains derailed but remained upright
A BNSF Railway investigator noticed that a padlock that should have been attached to the switch was missing, indicating it had been tampered with
Three days after the derailment, the BNSF investigator obtained surveillance footage that showed a 1996 Buick Park Avenue in the area and the teenager carrying a tripod on the south side of the tracks toward the switch, the affidavit said.
He was later recorded returning to his vehicle after the derailment caused approximately $350,000 in damage to BNSF Railway and the Omaha Public Power District, which owns the tracks used to supply coal to an OPPD power plant in Nebraska City.
The teen has now been charged with destruction of more than $5,000, KOLN reports.
But Lancaster County District Attorney Pat Condon said the boy is not in police custody.
He indicated that his office will now file a motion to transfer the case to adult court.