Amtrak Attack, Acceleration, Amnesia

May 16, 2015

Tuesday’s deadly Amtrak derailment may have been caused by a small missile striking the train’s windshield, somehow causing the engineer to dangerously accelerate and his resulting “amnesia” in the crash. 

That’s thus far the only insight into why and how the train began speeding into a notorious curve and jumped the tracks only minutes after departing from the Philadelphia station.

Whether the theory proves correct or pure bunk, the wrongful death suits have already begun to pile up for the devastating rail disaster that took the lives of eight passengers and sent nearly all others onboard to the hospital.

Almost 250 people were either hurt or killed in the catastrophe which NTSB  investigators and police agencies continue to probe during the weekend.

To those aims, the cell phone records of the injured engineer who was at the controls at the time of the accident have been subpoenaed in order to rule out “distraction” as a cause or contributing factor.

Conductor Brandon Bostian has also finally cooperated with authorities in terms of questioning as well -- something which the 32-year-old Amtrak employee had declined to do in the hours and days immediately following the derailment.

Before consenting to those interrogations, however, his lawyer had repeatedly asserted on his behalf that Bostian has no recollection whatsoever of the events that led up to the fatal train crash.

The claim of total amnesia, while curious and convenient, might in fact be bolstered by evidence of a concussion and other related injuries for which the “distraught” engineer was treated and is still recovering.

Additionally, testimony from Bostian’s assistant, who overheard her boss discussing in a phone conversation with another colleague that a rock or bullet had just hit their train, increases the possibility that something similar may have happened to the one Bostian was operating.

The derailed Philly train he was in charge of inexplicably accelerated from 70 mph to 107 mph within only a minute of reaching the deadly bend, barreling off the tracks just as the engineer was slamming on the brakes.

Dead or alive, the 243 riders who embarked on that doomed journey have at last all been accounted for.

@EponymousRox

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