Re: UP 844 fatality ruled accidental
Author: I could be wrong
Date: 08-06-2018 - 17:21
Welllll.....maybe it does end here? The truth is, with all of the evidence, it would be very hard to lawyer up and win. The evidence in front of all of us shows, she was on the tracks....essentially, trespassing. If we want to get super technical about it, any of us that enter the right of way with-in the legal ownership of the RR (50-100 feet eitehr side of center of track) without specific permission to be there, are trespassers, accident or not. The police did a report and did not issue a citation to the RR.
If we had a case where the Railroad was issued a citation for a failure regarding 49 CFR (parts 200-299 Railroad) and if we had reason to believe that she was on her own private property and died as a result of the gross negligence of the RR then we have a case but clearly as of now we have nothing more than an accident. Will the facts of the matter change much in the coming months? Nope. That said....it probably DOES end here and better for all of us that it does.
The family needs closure and so do the crew. One of my personal business heros in life says often..."well, we are where we are, how do we move forward from here?"
Look at TO, that Ramasch guy made a really good point about taking care of our fellow railfans.