UK: Railway guard jailed over drunk teenager's death
Posted: 15 Nov 2012, 16:02
Cruel Facebook trolls call for Liverpool-region teen's killer to be freed
It has certainly generated a lot of controversy, not just from "cruel Facebook trolls" but from railway employees and railway enthusiasts on the UK railway internet groups.
On the one hand, it is pointed out that the guard does have a duty to protect the public, even if they are drunk, and that anyway he had no way of knowing that she was drunk rather than, say, having a diabetic attack or other health problem. In that sense he was negligent. Some suggest that he should have been tried for breaching health and safety legislation, or faced internal disciplinary action, rather than being charged with manslaughter.
On the other hand, the girl was four times over the drink-drive limit for alcohol, had drugs in her system too, and was two years below the legal age for drinking alcohol. At what point do people have to take responsibility for their own actions? Railway staff have pointed out that often late at night the guard would never be able to give the "right away" if he waited for every drunk to move far away from the train. Drunks often stand close to the train and even bang on the windows, as this girl was reportedly doing, but usually move away when the train starts to move. In this instance the guard said he didn't realise how drunk she was and had no way of knowing that she would fall under the train.
The death of a teenage girl is a tragedy, but jailing a railway guard for making a mistake also seems a little extreme.