Injured train worker sues over wreck

The brakeman on the freight train involved in a deadly collision with a commuter train filed a lawsuit Friday against the commuter railroad and the companies that provide its engineers.

The lawsuit, filed by Dominick Fravola and his wife, blames the defendants for not properly screening, supervising and training the Metrolink engineer who ran his commuter train past a red signal on Sept. 12 and collided with a Union Pacific freight train. Twenty-five people died in the crash.

“Basically the guy was asleep at the switch and not paying attention to what was going on around him,” Fravola’s attorney, Barry Novack, said of the Metrolink engineer.

Novack said his client, who was in the second engine, braced himself after the emergency brakes were applied but suffered a puncture wound, concussion and psychological trauma.

Fountain, Colo.

Plot to kill mom tied to implants

A Colorado teenager hired men to kill his mother so he could use her money to get breast implants for his girlfriend, police said.

Nikita Lee Weis, 18, was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. His girlfriend, Sophia Nicole Alsept, 21, and two men police said he hired, Juan Antonio Velez Gonzalez, 18, and Brandon Michael Soroka, 19, were arrested on the same charge.

Weis’ mother, Hyun Weis, was attacked Thursday with a small wooden baseball bat at her home but escaped, authorities said.

Fountain police said Weis wanted to sell his mother’s car and use money in her bank accounts to pay for breast implants for Alsept.