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[quote user="erikthered"] Yeah, this is an old thread, and I have since retired from the law enforcement business. This allows me to indulge in pastimes like watching trains.  Since then, I have been adopted by a couple of locomotive engineers as their pet foamer.  We have talked at great length about accidents at grade crossings, and it's through these conversations that I have come across the usual conflict of cops and what people expect of them.First, local cops are the most likely to be the first responders to an accident.  Their job is to figure out if anyone is injured, or killed, and render aid to them.  That not only includes the car crushed like a beer can, but the crew of the train as well.  So yes, you can reasonably expect a cop to climb up into your locomotive to see if you are OK.It's also not unusual for agencies like the NTSB, railroad cops, state police, and other investigative agencies to take their sweet time getting to an accident scene.  Police officers, be they Elliot Ness or Barney Fife, have a responsibility to protect a scene of an accident, or a crime.  That could very well mean that as a cop, I could very well invite a crew out of their locomotive to sit in the back seat of my car.  The reason for it is simple; first, it's a lot more comfortable to sit in an air conditioned or heated car than stand out in the middle of a corn field, and secondly, it's protecting evidence from tampering.  I know there's a train recorder on board, just like I know that many aircraft have recorders on them.  It's up to me to make sure no one messes with them.  Including me.If I happen to notice that a participant in an accident appears to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs, I will probably take note of it.  And, there is a very good chance that a responding agency- to include an employer, like a railroad- will want their employees drug tested or alcohol tested as soon as possible.  That often means a trip to the local police station.  It's evidence, and 99 percent of the time it is directly responsible for clearing innocent people.  Like engineers, and conductors.Let's assume the local District Attorney is aggressive and decides to file charges. They aren't going to charge the entire railroad.  They are going to go after the guy operating the vehicle.  The engineer isn't going to a special Federal court; he's going to go to a District court.  Think about it for a moment, folks.  You have just run over a local.  You are in a courtroom with a local judge.  You might be as innocent of the angels, and you might be fully safe in exercising your rights.  But the prevalent attitude of a local jury towards the large corporation who just ran over Suzy the Idiot Cheerleader is not going to be improved when the local cop advises them (and he will) that the operator of the locomotive in question was uncooperative with law enforcement. Your attorney (which you will probably have to hire yourself, because large corporations don't generally fund criminal attorneys for employees) will immediately jump up and question the officer about whether he had the right to demand identification or not.  It won't matter; the damage is done.  You are the bad guy. You are better off when you aggressively participate in your own defense, and that starts off right at the accident scene.  I would estimate that engineer neglect and malfeascance is rarer than hen's teeth, and I'd also suspect that most trainmen have absolutely nothing to hide.  But providing evidence in your own defense is critical to that.  It will make the job of the railroad, the cops, and the prosecutors a lot easier to do, and potentially save an innocent railroad employee from career ending results. And give cops a break, too.  Enough of us have been through Lifesaver courses so that we know you can't stop a train on a dime.  We know people are stupid; that's why police and deputies have job security.  But cops are human, and when someone acts like they have something to hide, chances are that they do.  It's the nature of police work.I'm still a foamer, and I understand the trauma of grade crossing accidents on both sides perhaps better than you think.  It's the police officer's job to protect people and property- and that includes the engineer in shock because he just wiped out the minivan with churchgoers who couldn't wait five minutes for the train to go by.Enough said.  Erik [/quote] The only problem I have with this is where you are talking about us (railroaders) hiring our own lawyers to to the large corportion.  Where in fact if the railroad is not at fault, the railroad will provide a lawyer.  Probably one of the best around.  Now if for some reason the person was killed on the crossing due to the fact that the engineer was asleep and did not whistle or something like that the railroad will not get a lawyer for you at all. But the little black box on the motor will tell all about the accident.  So the railroad will know right after the accident.  More than likely the Trainmaster will show up with his laptop, and download that black box.
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