(The following story by Hudson Sangree appeared on the Sacramento Bee website on October 14.)
WOODLAND, Calif. — Five young men are scheduled to go on trial today for allegedly participating in a vicious attack on an Amtrak engineer in April 2007.
Prosecutors say the defendants, all in their teens at the time, stopped a Capital Corridor train as it traveled slowly toward the I Street Bridge in West Sacramento.
They pulled the engineer from the train, demanding his wallet and cell phone, then struck him with a fire extinguisher, rocks and bottles, prosecutors contend.
The defendants, ages 15 to 19, were members of the Broderick Boys street gang, said Yolo County Deputy District Attorney Jay Linden.
They were charged as adults with attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon and attempted robbery.
Opening statements are slated to begin today in Yolo County Superior Court.