PENNSYLVANIA: Engineer In Fatal 2015 Amtrak Crash Charged With Eight Counts Of Involuntary Manslaughter

The Associated Press reports:

The state’s top prosecutor on Friday charged a speeding Amtrak engineer with causing a catastrophe, involuntary manslaughter and other crimes in a deadly 2015 derailment that came after he accelerated to 106 mph on a 50 mph curve. Prosecutors said they were in talks with engineer Brandon Bostian’s attorney to have him surrender on the charges.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro expanded on charges a Philadelphia judge approved a day earlier. The unusual judge’s order came after the family of a woman killed in the crash sought a private criminal complaint when city prosecutors declined to press charges as Friday’s two-year deadline approached.

The judge had signed off on two misdemeanor charges over Rachel Jacobs’ death in the May 12, 2015, derailment. Shapiro approved a felony charge of risking or causing a catastrophe and a string of misdemeanors, including eight counts of involuntary manslaughter and reckless endangerment.

Shortly after the crash, right wing troll Chuck C. Johnson outed Bostian as a gay “tranny supporter” and posted nude photos allegedly found in a hook-up site profile. (Johnson has been permanently banned from Twitter for doxxing rape victims.) Multiple crackpots including the AFA’s Sandy Rios leapt upon Johnson’s claims and declared that Bostian’s sexuality played a role in the crash. World Net Daily bizarrely declared Bostian to be a “well-known gay activist.” The NTSB has ruled that Bostian was not on drunk or on drugs at the time of the crash and was not on his phone.