A 17-year-old Bennet, Nebraska, boy has been charged with felony charges for allegedly tampering with a rail that caused a train to derail and filming the incident to upload “amazing” footage to YouTube. picked up this Friday New York Post.
The video of the derailment of two locomotives and five fully loaded wagons crashing into an empty coal wagon was published by the young man on April 21. The teenager considered it as: “The most amazing video I’ve ever taken!«. Although fortunately no one was injured in the incident, authorities estimate the damage to be around $350,000.
Tests
Court documents to which local media had access They point out that the boy reported the derailment and then approached an investigator at the scene to show him the footage he had recorded and ask what had happened. When the investigator told him the cause was undetermined, the boy stated that obviously, “a switch had been flipped in the wrong direction«. Although the boy denied having invaded the area and having manipulated the switch, the investigator confirmed that the teenager knew where the control was and how it worked.
During the investigation, experts reviewed surveillance video from the area and discovered that the young man was in a car near the crossing of the tracks. They also revealed that he set up his camera tripod just four minutes before the train derailed.
The accusation
The teen was charged Wednesday after investigators obtained a search warrant to seize the cell phone and recorder he allegedly used to film the footage. Now faces two felony charges of property damage worth more than $5,000 in Lancaster County Court. County Attorney Pat Condon said the juvenile is not in police custody, but outlined his office’s intention to try the teen as an adult.
