Scholar: Choices ahead after order to arrest Amtrak engineer

Scholar: Choices ahead after order to arrest Amtrak engineer | iNFOnews.ca
Attorneys Thomas Kline, left, Richard Sprague and Robert Mongeluzzi take part in a news conference while standing next to a photo of train engineer Brandon Bostian in Philadelphia, Thursday, May 11, 2017. A Philadelphia judge has ordered prosecutors to criminally charge the speeding Amtrak engineer involved in a 2015 derailment that killed eight people and injured about 200. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

PHILADELPHIA – A law professor says Pennsylvania’s attorney general has several choices in handling a judge’s order to charge the speeding Amtrak engineer involved in a deadly crash.

Temple University professor Jules Epstein says the office could arrest engineer Brandon Bostian, seek to dismiss the case, appeal or ask the judge to reconsider her ruling.

Epstein says state Attorney General Josh Shapiro could also negotiate a plea or take time to evaluate the case.

The judge’s unusual order came a day before Friday’s two-year deadline to file charges in the May 12, 2015, crash that killed eight.

The family of a New York woman who was killed sought the criminal complaint after city prosecutors declined to press charges.

Federal investigators believe Bostian lost “situational awareness” but wasn’t impaired or using a cellphone.

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Abbey Westbury

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