The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) on Thursday released a preliminary report of the Amtrak passenger train that derailed near Cimarron just after midnight on March 14.

According to the report, The Los Angeles-to-Chicago train was operating on BNSF Railway track; it included two locomotives and 10 cars. The last four cars derailed on their sides, and two other cars derailed upright.

There were 130 passengers and 14 crew members; 28 injured passengers were taken to area hospitals. Amtrak and BNSF estimated their damages were more than $1.4 million.

It was dark at the time of the accident with a 10-mile visibility. The temperature was 42˚F with light wind, clear skies.

NTSB investigators observed that the railroad ties and tracks at mile post 373.07 were out of their normal positions and established the point of derailment as 25 feet beyond this location.

The forward-facing video from the lead locomotive showed abnormal track immediately before the derailment.

At the scene, investigators found fresh damage to the north ends of the ties at MP 373.07 and fresh tire tracks perpendicular to the railroad tracks. They also found a small amount of flaked corn, a type of cattle feed.

Investigators traced the tire tracks to a feed lot owned by Cimarron Crossing Feeders, LLC, where the tread on a 2004 Kenworth International truck matched the tire track impressions at the scene. The truck hauls flaked corn and distributes it to feed bins.

Investigators observed damage to the truck’s front bumper. The front bumper’s left and right mounting brackets were broken; the fracture faces were clean and had no sign of oxidation—indicating a recent break. Investigators examined the tire treads of the vehicle and matched it with the tire track patterns observed at MP 373.07.

This accident occurred on the BNSF, La Junta Division. The maximum authorized speed on this section of track is 60 mph for passenger trains and 40 mph for freight trains. Based on the NTSB’s preliminary review of the train’s event recorder data, the train was traveling at 60 mph when the emergency brakes were applied.

Parties to the investigation are the Federal Railroad Administration; Amtrak; BNSF; Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division; International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers; Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen; and the Gray County Sheriff’s Office.

From the office of the Ellsworth County Attorney

ELLSWORTH — On March 3, law enforcement authorities in Ellsworth County completed their investigation on an alleged sexual assault aboard a Great Bend Activities bus and gave the case to County Attorney Joe Shepack.

In a press release Thursday, Shepack reported the investigation consisted of one hundred seventy-five plus pages and contained several handwritten statements from civilian witnesses plus CD/DVD’s of certain interviews. Indeed, there appears to have been twenty-five persons aboard a Great Bend school district bus on February 6, 2016, and Ellsworth County Sheriff Ploutz obtained or attempted to obtain statements from almost all of these people. In addition, Sheriff Ploutz obtained, via search warrants, records of cell phone communications and texts relating to behavior on the bus on February 6, 2016.

Sheriff Ploutz should be commended for his diligence.

Of the twenty-five persons aboard the Great Bend school bus, fourteen, per their own words, heard or saw nothing.

Two more refused to talk with the Sheriff. From the accounts given by the nine people who heard or saw something, the Ellsworth County Attorney will be alleging, in the context of juvenile offender complaints, that an episode of teenage male athlete horseplay progressed (or degenerated) into several incidents of battery upon a 14 year old, 5’3”, 105 lb. Great Bend High School student-athlete. The legal definition of “battery” the Ellsworth County Attorney will be alleging and proving reads as follows:

“ … that on or about February 6, 2016, the above-named juvenile respondent did, then and there being in the County of Ellsworth, State of Kansas, did then and there unlawfully, willfully, and intentionally cause physical contact with the person of L.O., doing so in a rude manner; this in violation of K.S.A. 21-5413(a) and a Class “B” person misdemeanor if said crime was perpetrated by an adult”.

Two juvenile offender complaints containing the above language will be filed in the District Court of Ellsworth County, Kansas. Arrest warrants will not be issued. Rather, the persons accused in the juvenile complaints will be allowed an opportunity to surrender themselves at the Ellsworth County Courthouse in the company of their attorneys. Each of the juveniles who will be charged has retained legal counsel. The Ellsworth County Attorney would point out to the press and the public that the fact of someone retaining legal counsel prior to being charged has no bearing, whatsoever, on their guilt or innocence.

When the two juvenile respondents have appeared before the Ellsworth County District Court and have been served with the juvenile complaints above-referred, the Ellsworth County Attorney will release their names, as well as copies of the charges. Juvenile respondents/defendants who are 14 years of age or older are subject to open court proceedings where citizens and press may attend.

Upon conclusion of the juvenile offender cases above-referred, the Ellsworth County Attorney’s office will, notwithstanding a thirty-two (32) year old policy and the provisions of K.S.A. 45-221(a)(10), allow the press and interested parties access to the above-described “voluminous” police report. This is because the Ellsworth County Attorney has observed, with some concern, the incredible rumor phenomenon concerning the events on the Great Bend school bus on February 6, 2016.

Some rumors, bandied about on social media, state/suggest that younger boys were raped and/or sodomized on the Great Bend school bus on February 6, 2016.

Said bus contained twenty-five persons, both male and female. Reasonable people would think that if such events were occurring, then the adults and/or older teenagers on the bus would have intervened.

In closing, the Ellsworth County Attorney would note that it is not clear what county or counties the battery incidents occurred. This, however, will not preclude prosecution in Ellsworth County as K.S.A. 22-2608 reads:

“If a crime is committed in … any vehicle … passing through … this state, and it cannot readily be determined in what county the crime was committed … prosecution may be in any county … through … which such vehicle … has passed or in which such travel commenced or terminated.”

In this case, the bus ride began in Riley County and ended in Barton County with the bus passing through Geary, Dickinson, Saline, Lincoln, and Ellsworth County. It has been this Prosecutor’s experience (33 plus years, coupled with several dead-bodies-in-cars cases) that prosecution usually occurs in the “starting county”, or “ending county” as those are “safe harbors” per K.S.A. 22-2608 and case law thereunder. However, as the Ellsworth County Sheriff’s Office was asked to work the case, venue may as well be in Ellsworth County.

Dr. Jamie Schwandt and his guest discuss how you can dream big, think positive and take action. In this episode, Bob Bearley talks about his experiences as a foster parent.