Impulsive teen faces charges after deliberately derailing train in hopes of filming content YouTuber's dark way Total damages were $12 million.
Image from YouTube Capitol City Rail Productions
On July 29, 2024, CBS Austin reported that a 17-year-old teenager in the United States is facing criminal charges of causing damage after it was discovered that he intentionally caused a train derailment to create content to post on his YouTube channel, resulting in damages estimated at US$350,000 or approximately 12 million baht.
The accident occurred on April 21 when a locomotive traveling along the tracks collided with an empty coal-fired train car. The entire incident was captured by a 17-year-old teenager who witnessed the incident from close range. Before the clip was uploaded to Capitol City Rail Productions' YouTube account, it had already received more than 500,000 views.
However, according to court documents, a 17-year-old male reported the derailment to authorities. They went to the scene to ask what caused the derailment and at the time, investigators still didn’t know the exact cause. But the teen immediately said, “It looks like the switch was pushed in the wrong track.”
The teen claims to be a train enthusiast. He even let police watch the footage they captured of the train derailment. Unbeknownst to him, the footage was about to become evidence against him.
Image from YouTube Capitol City Rail Productions
Image from YouTube Capitol City Rail Productions
Meanwhile, the teen claims he wasn’t the one who caused the train to derail. But officials found it clear that the young man knew where the switch was. And he knew how the switch worked. Authorities also discovered that a tripod had been placed near the crash site just minutes before the train derailed. So officials consider the footage to be crucial evidence.
Investigators also found that in the days following the crash, a clip of the train derailment was posted to the ZUnit06 YouTube account, which is believed to be associated with the teen. The account also includes several clips of the train recorded in Bennett, Nebraska, and other locations in the state. But it’s worth noting that the clips were only uploaded to that account on July 27, while the clip was uploaded to Capitol City Rail Productions on April 23, just days after the crash.
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