PUT THE PHONE DOWN

Worker Playing Game Caused Train Wreck

11 people died in German collision.

German prosecutors say that a railway dispatcher who was playing on his cellphone caused the deadly train crash that killed 11 people and injured 80 more in February. The 39-year-old dispatcher will likely be charged with involuntary manslaughter and violating work rules, after the two trains collided on a single track in Bavaria, officials said. “The latest investigation shows that, in violation of the railway work rules, the accused switched on his mobile phone during his shift on the morning of the accident, started an online computer game and played actively for an extended period of time until shortly before the collision,” state prosecutor Wolfgang Giese said. “On the basis of the timing, one must assume that the attention of the accused was diverted from regulating the traffic.” Though the dispatcher, who has not been identified, has admitted to playing on his phone, he told a court Tuesday that he was not distracted at the time of the crash.