LA engineer deliberately tries to plow TRAIN into hospital ship USNS Mercy in an effort to 'wake people up' to conspiracy that it's part of a government plot and not to ease coronavirus burden

A train engineer deliberately drove a speeding train towards a Navy hospital ship in Los Angeles drafted in to help tackle the coronavirus pandemic because of a conspiracy theory that the ship is there for an alternate purpose.

Eduardo Moreno, 44, told authorities he intentionally derailed it from the track at the Port of Los Angeles because he was suspicious about the presence of U.S. Navy Hospital Ship Mercy, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.

Moreno said he did it to try to 'wake people up' to the idea that the ship is there for an 'alternate purpose' than to provide beds for coronavirus patients.   

The incident unfolded Tuesday when the train crashed through a series of barriers and fences before coming to rest more than 250 yards (230 meters) from the Mercy on Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a release.

The Pacific Harbor Line train that derailed Tuesday at the Port of Los Angeles after running through the end of the track and crashing through barriers,

Nobody was hurt in the incident.

Moreno acknowledged in two separate interviews with law enforcement that he intentionally derailed and crashed the train near the Mercy, according to the criminal complaint.

'You only get this chance once. The whole world is watching. I had to,' Moreno told investigators, according to the complaint. 

'People don´t know what´s going on here. Now they will.'

Moreno said he was suspicious of the Mercy and believed it had an alternate purpose related to COVID-19 or a government takeover, an affidavit states. Moreno stated that he acted alone and had not pre-planned the attempted attack.

In an interview with FBI agents, Moreno stated that 'he did it out of the desire to "wake people up",' according to an affidavit.

'Moreno stated that he thought that the USNS Mercy was suspicious and did not believe "the ship is what they say it's for,"' the complaint said.

The Mercy arrived in port this week to provide a thousand hospital beds for non-coronavirus cases to take the load off regional medical centers expecting a surge of COVID-19 patients. 

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The USNS Mercy in the Port of Los Angeles.The train engineer intentionally drove the speeding train off a track towards the Navy hospital ship

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The Mercy arrived in port this week to provide a thousand hospital beds for non-coronavirus cases to take the load off regional medical centers expecting a surge of COVID-19 patients

Cell phone video showed the locomotive upright in a patch of dirt. It apparently smashed through a concrete barrier at the end of the track, slid across pavement and gravel, and hit a chain-link fence before coming to a rest.

Phillip Sanfield, spokesman for the Port of Los Angeles, said the locomotive never came close to the Mercy. 

'It would have had to have gone several hundred yards through a parking lot and cross a water channel to reach the ship,' Sanfield said. 'The tracks are nowhere near the Mercy.'

The engineer wasn't a port employee but apparently was working for Pacific Harbor Line Inc., a train company that handles cargo in the port and connects to major railroad lines, Sanfield said. 

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California Governor Gavin Newsom speaking in front of the hospital ship USNS Mercy after it arrived into the Port of Los Angelesto assist the state with the pandemic

The company didn't immediately return a phone call seeking comment.

A small fuel leak was quickly controlled and port operations weren't seriously affected, Sanfield said.

Moreno was arrested by a California Highway Patrol officer who witnessed the crash and captured him as he fled the scene. 

He has been charged with one count of train wrecking, prosecutors said. 

It wasn't immediately known if he has an attorney.

The FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force and the Port of Los Angeles Police are now leading the investigation.