A boy’s life was saved Aug. 14 and a potential tragedy averted thanks to the fast-thinking actions of Mike Bobrosky III, a member of Local 1006 (Brownsville, Pa).
Down the hill from the home traveling the Norfolk Southern line toward Waynesburg, Pa., conductor Bobrosky and his engineer were traveling southbound. As their train approached Wayne Tunnel nears Waynesburg, Bobrosky said he saw something fouling the track ahead.
“We were coming around a bend. He was in the middle of the gauge inside the tunnel, and we dumped it into emergency,” he said.
The train stopped inside the tunnel, just short of hitting the boy.
“It was inches.”
After the train stopped, they alerted authorities, who had been searching for Reese for quite some time, and coaxed him aboard the locomotive. The hungry boy received a ride to the next crossing from the crew, where authorities were waiting and reunited Reese with his worried mother.
The alertness of Bobrosky and the action he and his engineer took saved a life that day and serves as yet another example of how having two people in the cabs of freight trains makes a difference in safety, contrary to carriers’ arguments.
“It was a right-hand curve – I saw him way before the engineer,” Bobrosky said. “If it was a one-man crew, I don’t know if the train would have stopped.
“It made a difference having two on the crew.”
Tag: Local 1006
A former treasurer of UTU Local 1006 (Brownsville, Pa.), Derek Klingman, has been indicted on charges of embezzling more than $9,300 from his local, reports the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
The newspaper reports the indictment alleges Klingman “wrote and cashed unauthorized union checks for his personal benefit.”
So far this year, four former UTU local treasurers – and seven more from other rail unions – have faced federal indictments alleging they unlawfully converted union funds for personal use.
The UTU International reports on these indictments not further to embarrass the individuals charged or their locals, but to provide a warning that improper handling of union funds can lead to federal criminal indictments resulting in prison sentences.
UTU treasurers with questions regarding proper handling of union funds should contact the general secretary and treasurer at UTU headquarters in North Olmsted, Ohio.
An indictment is a formal accusation or charge based on a finding by a grand jury that it is likely that the person charged committed the criminal offense described in the indictment and is the means by which an accused person is brought to trial. An indictment raises no inference of guilt. As in all criminal cases, each defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.