SPANISH DISASTER

Train Driver on Cell Before Crash

The details of his recklessness continue.

Every day that passes since 79 people were killed in last week’s Spanish rail crash, we learn more about just how reckless the vehicle’s driver was being when the train derailed. We already knew that train operator Francisco Jose Garzon de Amo was driving at about twice the speed limit when the tracks curved near Santiago de Compostela, sending the train off the track and into a wall, but now the court has discovered that Garzon was on the phone and reading a document as well. According to investigators, the train operator, who is charged with 79 counts of negligent homicide, was simultaneously answering a call from rail company Renfe and reading a document as the speeding train headed into the curve. Distracted, he didn’t slam on the breaks until “seconds before the crash.”