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Milan Tram Driver Declines to Testify as Prosecutors Set Black Box Review

Defense cites shock, saying phone data show no call at impact.

Overview

  • The ATM employee appeared before Milan prosecutors Elisa Calanducci and Corinna Carrara on March 16 and exercised the right not to answer.
  • He is under investigation for railway disaster, homicide and negligent injury over the February 27 Line 9 derailment that killed Ferdinando Favia and Okon Johnson Lucky and injured about 50 people.
  • Investigators completed a forensic copy of his cellphone and returned the device, and his lawyer says records exclude phone use at the moment of the crash.
  • Prosecutors are preparing a black box examination and kinematic analysis to determine whether human error or a technical failure caused the derailment.
  • The defense attributes the loss of control to a vasovagal syncope after a toe injury while assisting a wheelchair user, and a medico-legal evaluation has been requested as prosecutors consider widening the probe to ATM safety managers.