Woman suing Amtrak in Montana Hi-Line rape case

A North Carolina woman is suing Amtrak after she was violently raped on the passenger train by an employee as it passed by Wolf Point in 2015, alleging the carrier had the responsibility to protect her from employees such as her assailant, who had a long and "egregious disciplinary record."

The woman, 68 years old at the time, was taking a "bucket list" cross-country trip with her two sisters in 2015, and in April that year boarded the train in Washington, D.C. headed west. The woman had only been to five states before the trip, according to court documents filed earlier this month.

After boarding the Empire Builder in Chicago, the three sisters had planned to stop and spend several days in Glasgow to meet with the woman's nephew and tour around eastern Montana.

But before arriving in Glasgow on April 19, an Amtrak employee entered the woman's sleeping car, locked the door and violently raped her. According to court documents, the attack was so brutal that a sexual assault examiner in Washington State was able to document and photograph the bruising and bite marks on the woman's body after she reported the rape several days later.

The train employee, 59-year-old Charles Henry Pinner, was a resident of Detroit and worked as a sleeper car attendant at the time, his third job on the railroad since being first hired.

On Sept. 23, 2016, a Roosevelt County jury convicted Pinner of kidnapping and sexual intercourse without consent. He was sentenced to 60 years in prison.

The victim's case filed in federal court earlier this year claims Pinner had acknowledged a criminal history on his initial job application, but that at the time, Amtrak failed to complete any "industry-standard" background check.

Had a background check been completed, supervisors would have found previous convictions for felony robbery and drug trafficking, according to court documents. He was hired on as a chef, instead.

"There was nothing in Pinner's background or employment history prior to April 19, 2015, that would have led a reasonable employer to believe he had a disposition or propensity to commit such acts," Amtrak's attorney wrote in their response.

But Michael George, the victim's Great Falls attorney, alleges Amtrak had records of Pinner's employee misconduct from 2000, specifically incidents of hostility against white women, when he told a female co-worker, "You're the typical garden variety type, and that's a typical Anglo-Saxon trait," and on the same day told another, "I have no trouble strangling a white woman."

Two years later, another complaint was filed against Pinner for violating Amtrak's personal conduct, honesty and safety policies. Court records don't include any specifics about the violation, but Pinner was dismissed as a result of the complaint, although he was reinstated five months later, according to court documents.

And in 2006, the train company launched a "formal investigation" into Pinner for reportedly selling pornography while on the job. The company reportedly learned about Pinner's endeavors when he told a van driver he was selling X-rated adult videos, and handed the driver a bag of them.

Court documents filed by Amtrak attorneys state the company did act on Pinner's misconduct, and actually terminated him in 2006. Pinner, backed by his union, appealed his firing and a binding Board determined the discipline was too severe. Pinner was again reinstated and worked with the train company until Oct. 1, 2015, when he was terminated for the rape in Roosevelt County, Montana approximately six months after it took place on April 19. Court documents also state the company launched its own formal investigation into the incident on May 6.

Pinner was initially charged in Roosevelt County in late May, although the Wolf Point Herald-News reported the charges were dismissed for further investigation in July of that year. Criminal charges were refiled in December 2015, and on September 23, 2016, a jury convicted Pinner of kidnapping and sexual intercourse without consent. He was sentenced to 60 years in prison in January of this year, and is currently located at the Crossroads Correctional Center in Shelby. He has filed to appeal the case with the Montana Supreme Court, but has not yet filed any briefs supporting his appeal. He is now 61 years old.

The argument that Amtrak is liable for the attack is based on the Common Carrier Doctrine, which holds carriers such as Amtrak to the "highest degree of care" in regards to passenger safety, rather than the "reasonable care standard." Amtrak's attorneys, however, argue that the doctrine doesn't apply in this case, only when a passenger is injured by an employee acting within the scope of their employment duties. Pinner raping the woman was "not ratified by Amtrak, and thus, Amtrak cannot be liable for punitive damages," the carrier's attorney wrote.

Amtrak's attorneys also argue that the carrier had no choice in retaining Pinner as an employee after several cases of misconduct because the appeal process that led to his reinstatement is governed by the Railway Labor Act.

Of Amtrak's reach across the country, the West division, which includes Montana, has recorded among the lowest calls for service, but is in the top three-of-six divisions for high crime numbers behind New York and the Central divisions, according to the 2016 annual Amtrak police report. Across the country, the company reported no rapes in 2016, although more than 800 larceny charges were filed that year. The crime offense statistics are, however, patchy, as an unspecified number of rapes (under 100) were reported in 2015, and no crime-type numbers were included in the agency's reports in 2014 and 2013.

According to court documents, the woman suffers today from post-traumatic stress syndrome and rape trauma syndrome, as well as anxiety and depression. Her attorneys also write that she has continuously increased her anti-depressant dosage and continues to see both a psychiatrist and a psychologist.

The victim's attorneys have not laid out a dollar amount they are seeking from Amtrak in the case.

The trial is currently set for Feb. 4, 2019 at the U.S. District Court in Great Falls.

- This article has been updated to reflect that the Empire Builder train, heading west, originates from Chicago.