EAST PALESTINE, Ohio (WKBN) – A man received his sentence Monday for failing to obey evacuation orders during the train derailment in East Palestine in February.
A charge against Chad Fowler, of Salem, was amended from a misconduct at an emergency charge to a fourth-degree misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct, according to court records.
Fowler was sentenced to one day in jail but received credit for the one day he already served. He was also ordered to pay a fine of $250, according to a judgment entry signed by Columbiana County Municipal Court Judge Katelyn Dickey.
Fowler was one of two men charged in the days following the derailment as evacuation orders were issued for the immediate area surrounding the burning train cars.
A court affidavit in the case said Fowler was found parked in a vehicle only a few hundred yards away from the crash site around 1 a.m. Feb. 5.
The other man who was charged, Frederick Hennan, was found guilty of misconduct at an emergency and endangering children charges, according to court records.
Records state that Hennan was ordered to pay fines and serve 180 days in jail.
According to court records, police stopped Hennan for driving around barricades and entering a part of East Palestine that was a State of Emergency area. Court records state that he was seen walking with two children on the railroad tracks down to the chemical fire.