(The following article by Michael A. Mohammed was posted on the St. Petersburg Times website on October 18.)
TAMPA – The FBI said Tuesday it is looking for two teenagers in connection with a CSX cargo train derailment in July.
A witness told the FBI the youths appeared to be about 14 or 15 and wore clothes common to the “goth” youth subculture: baggy black pants with silver chains, Converse sneakers and black T-shirts with gray writing. Both had purple makeup around their eyes, FBI spokeswoman Carol Michalik said.
The male teen was described as 5 feet 10 inches, about 200 pounds, with a medium build and short, black, curly hair. The female is 5-8, about 200 pounds, with black, shoulder-length, frizzy hair and a pink-dyed stripe.
CSX is offering a $5,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest and conviction.
The train’s lead engine derailed and flipped onto its side July 30 on Busch Boulevard after it struck a piece of equipment on the track. It landed near an office building and forced officials to close a stretch of Busch Boulevard.
The piece placed on the track, known as a knuckle, is part of the coupling mechanism that connects train cars. They frequently break off and are left by train workers by the side of the track. But workers would never have left a knuckle, which weighs about 50 pounds, on the track itself, Michalik said.
Anyone with information in the case is asked to call the FBI at 813 253-1000.
I live in the Tampa area. Ironically where the derailment occured was very close to the “Carollwood” suburb of Tampa. This is an Upper Middle to Upper income neighborhood area. Many beautiful homes. Interesting thing seldom mentioned is that a lot of the young people that get arrested for stupid, vandalism type crimes come from thes
I think this is but a sad commentary on how kids are raised and disciplined these days. Had I done something like this in my youth and been caught with it, my parents would have beaten me and then made me work all summer and into the fall and winter months to pay for the damage that I had done. Too many people are abdicating the role of being parents in an effort to be their children’s best friends. Anyway, I for one, hope these kids get caught and that justice gets handed down to them!
CANADIANPACIFIC2816
“There was a time in this fair land when the railroad did not run, when the wild, majestic mountains stood alone against the sun, long before the white man and long before the wheel, when the green, dark forest was too silent to be real.” Gordon Lightfoot