(The following story appeared on the KFYR television station’s website on May 8, 2009.)
BISMARCK, N.D. — Officials investigating the movement of two parked locomotives onto a main track in the path of a freight train carrying hazardous chemicals through Minot say the culprits likely are vandals and not terrorists.
Minot Police Sgt. Dave Goodman says the weekend incident appears to have been done by someone who didn`t realize how bad the outcome might have been had the freight train not been able to stop in time.
Goodman says the culprit might have been a railroad employee or former worker. But he believes whoever moved the locomotives had only a limited knowledge of how to do so — someone like a friend or relative of a railroad worker.
Canadian Pacific Railway spokesman Jeff Johnson declined to say whether the railroad suspects an employee or former employee.
Goodman says whoever is responsible for the incident will face felony charges of tampering with railroad property and reckless endangerment when they are caught.