BOYDS, Md. (AP) — Friends and family say a Maryland teen struck and killed by an Amtrak train was taking photographs with his girlfriend and her sister.
Sixteen-year-old John Martin DeReggi Jr. and his girlfriend were being photographed by her twin sister at a picturesque spot in Boyds, a town about 20 miles north of the nation’s capital, on Monday afternoon. But they say when the train came through, the girls went in one direction and DeReggi tried to go in the other, but he didn’t get out of the way in time.
Montgomery County Police Capt. Darren Francke says detectives are still going through witness statements, but they don’t believe anyone pushed DeReggi, that he wanted to be hit or that the train operator did anything wrong.