California Highway Patrol Gets Wind Of Possible Existence Of Amtrak Recording
(Guadalupe, California — April 19, 2012)
According to post-accident reports, officers of the California Highway Patrol investigating a double-fatality in which a man and his one-year-old daughter were killed in a collision between the car they were in and Amtrak’s "Coast Daylight" passenger train at a dangerous, unguarded Union Pacific Railroad in San Luis Obispo County, CA Wednesday have a suspicion that a recording of the tragic event may exist.
CHP Officer David Reed told the San Luis Obispo Tribune that "investigators believe some form of data recording, possibly video, on the train, may have captured the event." Reporter Nick Wilson said that "Officials are looking into that; however, Reed said he didn’t know when they’d know more."
Obviously, neither Amtrak nor Union Pacific have been straightforward in offering video evidence, recorded from the locomotive’s nose video recorder, to police authorities charged with investigating the accident. Instead, unsubstantiated rumors of "suicide" have been formulated and leaked to both media and police investigators.
In the aftermath of Wednesday’s heart-rending tragedy, the least one might expect is full cooperation with those agencies conducting the investigation such as the offering of evidence which could serve to expedite and authenticate the CHP’s accident report.
But then, perhaps the recording reveals things rail entities would rather not see the light of day.
