Sounds like a really bad Hollywood movie. They could get that Dolf guy to play the lead law enforcement type.
Maybe they could throw in a Chief of police who threatens to take the renegade cops off the case. And a pretty DA who has a love-hate relationship with Dolf.
Oh, sure, just ASSUME it’s the Amish! Believe it or not, not ALL of them are the scoundrels some would have you believe. A few low-speed chases on TV with their beards flapping in the breeze and suddenly, “Who else could it be?” I expected better from the SDMB. :mad: 
But seriously I imagine police would hold back some details so they know who’s coming forward with credible information and who isn’t. Not announcing the foul play aspect might help them catch the perps off guard.
Missed the edit window by a mile.
The scene from “Witness.”
Yeah. That’s why it’s third-hand, which is why my default assumption is that it’s not reliable information.
Don’t look to Hollywood for an accurate representation of what happens in Amish country.
Instead, look at this documentary movie. You will see that some of those Amish are more gang-bangerish than you might at first imagine.
Is this quote from any on-line source? Link (if so)?
Post #3.
Never mind. Found it.
[AMISH hijack]
Point taken 
Seriously, though, I saw a thing on TV about Amish traditions…I’m guessing they were talking about Rumspringa:
*A minority of Amish youth do diverge from established customs.[8] Some may be found:[9]
Wearing non-traditional clothing and hair styles
Driving vehicles instead of horse drawn buggies (for communities that eschew vehicles)
Not attending home prayer
Drinking, smoking, and/or drug use
In Anabaptist belief, it is essential for adults to enter baptism knowingly and informed, and that could mean being informed concerning life outside the strict Amish culture.[10] Not all youth diverge from custom during this period; approximately half in the larger communities and the majority in smaller Amish communities remain within the norms of Amish dress or behavior during adolescence.[11]*
Some of the Amish don’t go back, at which point they’re forever shunned. Some get really messed up on drugs etc. during their time away from their families.
[/AMISH hijack]
Back to the OP/tomndebb’s cite: Wow, 16 witnesses and nobody could stop it? I wonder why there’s no mention of the conductor’s opinion of the condition of the body before it was run over. And what were his friends doing at the time?
There’s quite a paucity of information here, almost 24 hours after the fact. In a rural area like this, the news would be especially huge and I’d think there would be more answers than this.
Hi. Away from laptop working. Now back, and have read up. I just checked with my first-person source. She said that there is MORE than a paucity of info. There is zero info coming from the local cops.
She’s asking around, though. I’ll keep on this. Not just because I hate looking like a fool here ( nothing new for me, of course… 
), but because it was shared with a rational adult who I know and trust by this younger brother. Very weird.
However, I will be glad to up and say that the older brother died on the tracks in a drunken stupor and wasn’t beaten at all. It’s just that a bucket full of witnesses said he was knocked around pretty well.
AND, the fact that the cops have told the younger brother and his family that 4 had been arrested. Now, nothing.
Hmmmmmm.
ETA: Either one or more of those kids is heavily connected locally ( see story above about kid, crime, attorney parents, etc. etc. ) and this is being suppressed, or the original info I was given is bullshit. Either way, I wanna know.
My money’s on bullshit. Anybody want a piece of this action?
I’m glad your here, making snide remarks then, instead of being head of Universal’s budgeting allocation department! I’d hate to see the sort of crap you’d finance!
It has been 24 hours. Any new information?