Acquittals in Lac Megantic rail disaster

Some of you will recall that some four years ago, there was a terrible rail disaster in Lac Megantic, Quebec. A train of fuel cars, stocked with raw crude, got loose after a fire affected its brakes, rolled down a long incline for several miles, and crashed into the centre of the small town of Lac Megantic in Quebec. Close to 50 people were killed in the resulting explosions and fires, and the town centre was destroyed: Railroad fuel cars explode in small Quebec town

The Quebec Public Prosecutions service charged three of the people connected with the train and rail line with a number of charges, including numerous counts of criminal homicide causing death.

Earlier this week, the jury advised that they were deadlocked. The judge exhorted them to keep at it and try to reach a verdict.

Today, they reported their verdict: not guilty on all counts. One of the accused still faces some charges under the railway regulations, which are much less serious:

Lac-Megantic trial ends with three acquittals

Interestingly, residents of the town generally seem to support the verdict, and think that the president and other higher-ups in the railway corporation should have been the ones charged: ‘It broke their lives’: Lac-Mégantic residents support acquittals of MMA rail workers

It’s not my place to teach you law, Maître, but “criminal homicide causing death” is a bit much. It’d make a great name for a junior high school metal band, though! :wink:

I’m glad the guys were acquitted. I don’t see what purpose it would have served to put them in jail.

Quote right. Perils of late night posting! Should have been “criminal negligence causing death”.

From what I could tell, the lower level rail employees were not to blame. The main cause of that disaster was that the railway in question was being deliberately run into the ground to make the maximum profit.

There was no maintenance of the track at all, which meant the speed of trains was limited to about 10 mph. So that meant the trains couldn’t reach their destination within a day and the engineer had to park the train wherever he was when his maximum time on duty was reached.

Secondly, the maintenance on the engines was absolutely minimal, which is why the engine caught on fire. That lead directly to the runaway train.

So I agree with the locals that the higher ups, the president and board of directors, should be the ones prosecuted.