PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — After a week-long trial, a jury has found Brandon Bostian , the former Amtrak engineer who operated a train that derailed in May 2015 in Philadelphia and killed eight people and injured more than 200 others, not guilty on all counts on Friday.Bostian had been charged with involuntary manslaughter, causing a catastrophe, and 238 counts of reckless endangerment.
On Thursday, Bostian chose not to testify in his defense at the trial.He declined to answer why he chose not to testify outside the courtroom.
2015 Amtrak Derailment Photos Shown In Trial READ MORE: Gas Prices Soar Past $4 In Philadelphia Region For 1st Time Since 2008 Amtrak accepted responsibility for the tragedy and paid $265 million to settle claims by the victims and their families.The train was on its way to New York City and departed from Washington D.C.
It took four days for the prosecution to rest its case against Bostian.
On Wednesday, the jury heard from the last three witnesses that the prosecution called to testify: an Amtrak supervisor, a former Amtrak police officer and the brother of Robert Gildersleeve, one of the eight victims killed in the Amtrak train derailment.
READ MORE: Philadelphia Weather: Record Warmth Possible Sunday Earlier this week, audiotapes of the frantic 911 calls were played for the jury after an Amtrak train flew off the tracks in Frankford Junction.
Federal investigators concluded that Bostian was distracted by radio chatter about someone throwing rocks at other trains.The NTSB found he was not using his phone at the time of the derailment.
A judge reinstated the charges against Bostian in 2020 after they were dropped two times.The ruling in 2020 by Superior Court Judge Victor Stabile overturned a lower court’s decision in July of 2019 to dismiss the involuntary manslaughter and reckless endangerment charges against him.
MORE NEWS: Man Shot, Killed Inside Germantown Citizens Bank Identified As James Watson; 2 Suspects At Large Since the derailment, Amtrak has installed a positive-train control technology that can automatically slow or stop a speeding train on its track from Boston to Washington..
