NTSB: Engineer Involved In Deadly Metro-North Wreck Broke Speed Limit Several Times
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Blood stained the seats, floors and doors of several commuter rail cars after a derailment that killed four people in the Bronx, a federal agency reported Friday.
The cars lost almost all their windows on one side and were littered with dirt, rocks and even tree branches when they came to rest, the report said.
The report on the condition of the Metro-North Railroad cars was among dozens of documents on several accidents released by the National Transportation Safety Board.
The Metro-North train derailed Dec. 1 after hitting a curve, which has a 30 mph speed limit, at 82 mph. More than 70 people were injured.
The NTSB has not yet determined the cause of the crash, but reported earlier that engineer William Rockefeller suffered from sleep apnea and said he felt ``dazed'' right before the crash.
As CBS 2 reported, the NTSB said that Rockefeller was speeding, not just that day, but a few days earlier as well.
Investigators said that a review of data recorders showed that he broke the speed limit four prior times.
The new documents include a quote from a New York City police detective who entered one of the damaged cars right after the accident.
``There was people's personal items and there was people laying around,'' he told the NTSB. ``There was not one window left on the train.''
Another document listed the crews' cellphone calls and texts and appeared to confirm that the engineer and conductors were not using phones at the time of the crash. The Federal Railroad Administration said earlier there was no evidence the crash had anything to do with phone use.
In a document relating to an accident in March, the Metro-North engineer on a train that killed an electrician on the tracks told investigators that the electrician never looked up despite the fact that he was blowing the train's horn.
William Maher said he was coming out of a tunnel when he noticed three workers too close to the track. He said two got out of the way, but one, later identified as James Romansoff, 58, leaned or fell into the train's path.
Maher told investigators that track workers used to stop what they were doing when a train passed, acknowledge the engineer, and go back to work once the train has passed. He said most workers now continue what they are doing without ever looking up.
``To me,'' he said. ``That's a little discomforting.''
(TM and © Copyright 2014 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2014 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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