May 13, 2015
An official with the National Transportation Safety Board has distanced the government body from remarks made by Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter during an interview with Wolf Blitzer on CNN Wednesday afternoon.
Discussing new information in the aftermath of Tuesday night's deadly Amtrak crash, Nutter responded to reports that the train was behind schedule and the engineer increased its traveling speed to make up for lost time, Mediaite reports.
Nutter told Blitzer, "You'd almost have to be an idiot to do that," adding that it would be a "reckless" decision.
Minutes later, NTSB board member Robert Sumwalt appeared on the broadcast and told Blitzer he disagreed with the tone of Nutter's comments. Sumwalt said the NTSB is concerned with "conducting a very fact-based investigation, non-emotional investigation, and to make comments like that is inflammatory at this point.”
At least seven people died in Tuesday night's crash, and according to the NTSB, the train was traveling at 106 m.p.h., double the posted limit.
