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Union, attorneys want charges dropped against MM&A employees in Lac-Mégantic derailment
RCMP Arent interrsted?
The froggy police just want to show who is in charge here - not the Anglo railway company or Federal Transport Safety Board, but them, the QPP. Note that the federal RCMP police aren’t interested in doing anything about this accident, its just an ego trip for the QPP.
If the staff was negligent in their duties, then it might be justifiable. It usually takes a lot of things going wrong to get a disaster of that magnitude. I don’t want them being scapegoated for what they’re not responsible for though.
Edward, This is a really offensive post. Please take it down.
Whose decision was it to leave a very sick engine as the only one running and providing compressed air to the train brakes?
Couldn’t a trailing engine have been left running and the sick one shut down? just asking.
Mr. Jordan your comments are unwelcome and racist! Please delete!
They are putting too much weight on the heads of too few people. Everybody who set up the railroad should be put on trial.
When any FD is at the scene, THEY are in total charge of SAFETY, and have Legal command over the scene. When they hand it off to the Railroads MOW, it becomes the MOW responsibility. Yeah a BIG responsibility for MOW who probably really had limited knowledge of the forces at work and what was not working well enough. The Engineer is not to blame, and the fact the the MOW was not trained for this is pretty common, not many MOW folks have FULL working Rail engine brake and engine knowledge. The QPP are just being resident advocates I suppose. Suing doesnt actually FIX problems, a new set of contingency plans is needed in situations as this, engine dead,how much brake, etc. This is a witch hunt that will just cost money, I know, I have donated to Tom Hardings’ defense
This is a witch hunt to make the public happy. The engineer wanted to go back out after the fire department left to make sure things were good. This railroad is the normal railroad that lacks proper care in safety. The people at the bottom contributed to this disaster, but they weren’t the cause and shouldn’t be in jail for life. It is ridiculous.
Sorry Andrew and Mel, but it appears to me Staurt asks the relevant questions.
Jeff also makes a solid point.
The blame belongs to the top management. As usual, the employees take the fall for doing what they’re told.
Regardless of the company’s safety culture and procedures, the engineer knew what he was supposed to do and he didn’t do it. He was negligent and lazy and therefore 47 people died and millions of dollars in damage was caused. There is no doubt abouit it, he is the guilty party and needs to be prosecuted and imprisoned for the maximum term allowed.
And let CEO Ed Burckhardt Skate, Robert McGuire?
And let CEO Ed Burckhardt Skate, Robert McGuire?
Well in a disaster like this someone has to pay? It seems like they are going after the easiest targets? Lots of people were at fault here.
Who shut the power down?This is the person responsible.
Stuart-Yes,they COULD have.But when a train is tied down and a unit is left running for air,it is usually the “controlling” unit.
I think they should drop the criminal charges. I think they are more to satisfy the “somebody has to pay” crowd than actually effecting any kind of change in railroad safety. This disaster was caused by failure on many levels. Change any one single event in the chain of events that led to this disaster and it doesn’t happen. There are numerous people who could have acted differently and changed the outcome. There certainly needs to be rules changes and cultural changes both in the government and on the railroad. Sending any of these guys to jail fixes nothing and changes nothing. Remember thses guys will carry this with them for the rest of their lives. That might be punishment enough.
Of course the union and its attorneys will ask for dismissal. They always do that in the US and even in Q-beck probably do the same thing. As to whether others at MMA should be on trial, I’d probably agree. But the police response to this mess has been slow, tepid, and weak. The Surete is apparently in charge of all the “national” policing in Q-beck, and the RCMP is not. But we shall see just what kind of justice system they have in Canada, and more specifically in the province (or is is “nation”?) of Q-beck. If they fold on this, it will tell us all far more than we ever wanted to know about that country and its attitude toward laws, responsibility, and accountability. Just remember that somebody, somehow killed 47 innocent people. That’s not just an accident.