MM&A and Employees Charged

Associated Press photo, Paul Chiasson

Just over 9 months after the railway disaster in Lac-Mégantic on July 6 2013, three men were arrested by the Sûreté du Québec (the Quebec provincial police) and each will be charged with 47 counts of criminal negligence causing death on Tuesday. The Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway itself also received the same charges.

The three are:

• Thomas Harding, the engineer of the train that rolled into Lac-Mégantic;
• Richard Labrie, a railway traffic controller for the railway; and
• Jean Demaitre, the director of operations for the railway.

It's said that Harding was arrested by a SWAT team, even though his lawyer (Thomas Walsh) had already communicated that he would voluntarily turn himself in if charged.

I'm curious why it took so long to lay charges. It's possible that there is a draft of the upcoming Transportation Safety Board report being privately circulated that contained enough to get warrants for their arrests. I'm sure it'll come out soon.

I'm also a little surprised that more people weren't charged.

EDIT: The Transport Minister, Lisa Raitt, is announcing new rail tanker rules right now, another direct result of the Lac-Mégantic disaster.

References:

• Wall Street Journal article
• National Post article
• Link to the former officers of the MMA here.
• Is Tom Harding a villain or victim?