In this Aug. 21, 2007 photo, Amtrak assistant conductor, Brandon Bostian stands by as passengers board a train. (Huy Richard Mach/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP)
A judge has dismissed criminal charges against the engineer in an Amtrak derailment in Philadelphia that killed eight people.
The decision came Tuesday after a preliminary hearing for 34-year-old Brandon Bostian.
Judge Thomas Gehret says that based on the evidence offered by prosecutors, he feels it is “more likely an accident than criminal negligence.”
The site of the deadly derailment in May 2015. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)
The engineer was arrested in May after the family of one of the victims filed a private criminal complaint, and another judge overruled prosecutors who’d said there wasn’t enough evidence against him.
Bostian’s Washington-to-New York train tumbled from the tracks on May 12, 2015, after accelerating to 106 mph as it entered a 50-mph curve.
About 200 people were injured.
Federal safety investigators concluded Bostian lost his bearings while distracted by an incident with a nearby train.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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