"We are disappointed that they're not prosecuting anyone criminally, but we are satisfied with Baltimore County's investigation because it's a conclusion they almost had to reach," he said.
Hill's remarks to the news media did not include any mention of negligence, and he did not respond later in the day to a request for comment on Miller's assertions.
According to Miller, the probe called into question the conduct of two operators - the one whose train struck the boys and another who saw them trespassing and sounded his horn at them but failed to report them to the rail's operations center.
Miller said police investigators could not clarify why the operator of the train that struck the boys did not see them, either before or upon impact.
"The operator of the train that struck them never looked up and can't give a valid explanation as to why," he said.
Miller said drug and alcohol tests on the operators came up clean and no evidence of cell phone use was found. He said investigators came up with no medical explanation for any lapse of attention on the part of the operator whose train hit the boys.
According to the lawyer, who said he was permitted to watch a video taken by a camera mounted on the train, the boys were clearly visible walking - their backs to the train - on tracks usually used by southbound trains. The light rail system was operating on a single track at the time because of an earlier act of vandalism affecting the northbound tracks.
Miller said investigators found that the boys had been walking on the northbound tracks but crossed over after seeing a southbound train pass. He said they apparently assumed they would be able to see and get out of the way of any approaching train.
According to Miller, the video shows the operator would have had plenty of time to stop the train had he been paying attention. He said the operator apparently did not notice the impact, which tripped a circuit-breaker that brought the train to a halt about 60 yards up the line.
Miller said the operator dismounted and did a "cursory" inspection of the train. He then flipped a switch to resume operations but did not inspect the track behind him, the lawyer said.
Miller said his theory is that the deaths were the result of "negligent inattentiveness," a byproduct of repeated runs without incident. "You sort of get complacent and think it's OK to take your eyes off the track," he said.
