SHERBROOKE, Quebec — Jury deliberations began Thursday in the trial of three men charged with criminal negligence causing death for a 2013 train derailment that killed 47 people in Quebec.
Train engineer Tom Harding, traffic controller Richard Labrie and train operations manager Jean Demaitre are charged in connection with the accident in which a runaway train carrying crude oil derailed and exploded.
All three men have pleaded not guilty.
The prosecution contends Harding failed to perform a proper brake test and didn’t apply enough handbrakes after he parked the 73-car oil train late on the night of July 5, 2013. Labrie and Demaitre are accused of failing to ensure the train was properly secure after a fire broke out on the locomotive and firefighters shut off its engine, compromising the braking system.
Harding’s legal team maintains his actions were not a marked departure from the behavior of a reasonable person in similar circumstances and did not reveal a reckless disregard for the life of others.
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