On Wednesday, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority released dozens of documents related to the 2009 trolley crash that injured dozens of passengers and caused over a million dollars in estimated damage. The MBTA has blamed the train accident on driver inattentiveness, but the NTSB is still examining probable causes. Its report may not be ready for another several months.
According to the documents released earlier this week, MBTA workers said there was zero warning before the Green Line trolley slammed into the train in front of it, knocking passengers off their feet. The accident occurred in a tunnel between Government Center and Park Street on the Green Line.
The operator involved in the subway accident, who had been texting his girlfriend at the time, was initially charged with a felony, but his lawyers successfully argued against those charges. Prosecutors brought new charges of gross negligence against him, and he now awaits trial in Suffolk Superior Court. Here in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the penalty for gross negligence is a fine of not more than five thousand dollars or imprisonment for not more than two and a half years.
Source: MBTA driver: No warning in 2009 Green Line crash, Boston Globe, November 10, 2010
MBTA operators detail ’09 crash, Boston Globe, November 11, 2010
Contact the MBTA accident attorneys at Altman & Altman with questions regarding your legal rights following an accident.