(The Associated Press circulated the following article on October 13.)
MESA, Ariz. — A man was arrested here last night, accused of causing a train to derail. Nobody was injured.
Robert Merchant, 20, of Snowflake was arrested about 7:45 p.m. and was released by about 9.
Merchant won’t be formally charged until results of a drug test are returned, said Mesa Police Department spokesman Tim Gaffney.
Gaffney said Merchant could eventually face charges including driving under the influence of drugs, and trespassing.
Nine cars left the Union Pacific Railroad tracks during the afternoon, said Mark Freeman of the Mesa Fire Department.
An engineer saw a pickup truck stalled on the tracks and slowed.
Merchant was running toward the train, authorities said. The engineer hit the brakes, and the cars derailed.
Out of 110 freight cars, 87 were empty.
The pickup wasn’t struck,
Scattered power outages were caused by the derailment.