The Nation : Engineer in Fatal Train Crash Sentenced

A judge sentenced an ex-Conrail engineer to five years in prison for driving three locomotives into the path of a passenger train, killing 16 people in Amtrak’s worst accident. Although Ricky L. Gates, 33, of Essex, Md., admitted smoking marijuana on the train before the Jan. 4, 1987, wreck, Baltimore County Circuit Judge Joseph P. Murphy said he did not believe that the engineer was under the influence of the drug. “But what he did in terms of failure to follow procedures was to show us that he . . . just didn’t care,” the judge said. Gates pleaded guilty Feb. 16 to a single misdemeanor manslaughter count and admitted failing to make several safety checks. In a plea bargain, 16 original misdemeanor charges of manslaughter by locomotive were consolidated into a single charge, reducing Gates’ possible prison time from 80 years to five. Murphy also fined Gates the maximum $1,000.