An engineer deliberately ran a train off the tracks at high speed near the Port of Los Angeles in an attempt to crash into the USNS Mercy hospital ship, prosecutors say.
The Pacific Harbor Line train derailed Tuesday, running through the end of the track and crashing through barriers, finally coming to rest about 250 yards from the docked naval ship.
Federal prosecutors allege train engineer Eduardo Moreno, 44, of San Pedro intended to hit the ship, saying he thought it was “suspicious” and did not believe “the ship is what they say it’s for.'”
The train crashed into a concrete barrier at the end of the track, smashed through a steel barrier and a chain-link fence, slid through one parking lot and then a second lot filled with gravel and hit a second chain-link fence. It came to rest after passing under a ramp leading to the Vincent Thomas Bridge. The train remained in that position Wednesday.
No one was injured in the derailment, but the train leaked fuel that required a hazmat response.
BREAKING: Bessent and FBI Director Kash Patel Announce Multimillion-Dollar Fraud Arrests in Sweeping Minnesota Crackdown
Heroic Crack Shot Local Cop Sniper Who Saved Trump’s Life ‘Erased’ from News by Embarrassed Feds: Family
Fox News Campus Radicals Newsletter: A rare reversal, a Christian battle and a reality check
Polish president scrambles back from overseas trip amid Donald Tusk-led ‘coup d’état’ at police-swarmed Constitutional Tribunal
NYT Points to ‘Murky’ Detail in ‘Ilhan Omar’ Brother-Marriage Fraud Probe: The Man Who Married Her
Judge grills Comey’s lawyers over effort to dismiss new charges
Treasury flags $8B in suspicious foreign-directed transfers through US money services firms
Liberal court delivers immigration win for Trump as judge warns of ‘floodgates’ if law firm succeeded
Major Human Trafficking Sting in Florida Nets 281 Arrests – Including Disney Workers
Netanyahu rivals face impossible political decision following official election results: Bibi, Arabs, or failure?
Aspiring NYPD officer and college hockey captain killed in crash involving twice-removed Mexican national
Clancy father targeted in alleged wiretap as medical lawsuits hint at strategy split: cops
Pope Leo makes history in US election with move confirmed by Vatican
Death row killer Christa Pike describes waking up after execution she never expected to survive
Dem operative admits Ilhan Omar case has legs as liberal firewall begins to crack: ‘I’m not stupid’
Authorities say Moreno admitted to crashing the train intentionally, but said he did not plan it out in advance. It is believed that he acted alone.
He allegedly made statements to a CHP officer that included “You only get this chance once. The whole world is watching. I had to. People don’t know what’s going on here. Now they will.”
Officials say video from inside the train’s cab shows Moreno holding a lighted flare during the incident.
Moreno has been charged with one count of train wrecking, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison.
The Mercy arrived at the Port of Los Angeles this weekend.
The Navy hospital ship was brought in to handle non-coronavirus patients, to help ease the burden of local hospitals that are surging with COVID-19 cases.
The ship has about 1,000 hospital beds, with some 800 active-duty doctors, nurses and medical staff on board. It is expected to stay in Los Angeles at least until September or until it is no longer needed.
Story cited here.
