Passenger in Green Line collision sues MBTA for $44K

A passenger aboard a Green Line train that collided with another trolley in July 2021, injuring 27 people, filed a lawsuit against the MBTA.

In a lawsuit filed Monday in Suffolk Superior Court, Huan Qiang Lei of Boston said he was “thrown violently about the interior of the train car” following the collision, and sustained injuries that included rib fractures and pneumothorax, which is the technical term for a collapsed lung, according to the Mayo Clinic.

“The defendant owed the plaintiff a duty to exercise reasonable care in the operation of its train cars,” the complaint states. “By failing to keep a safe distance between train cars and by operating train cars at an unsafe speed, the defendant breached said duty.

“As a direct and proximate result of the defendant’s negligence, the plaintiff suffered personal injury and damages, including multiple, severe and ongoing injuries to his body and mind, medical bills and expenses, pain and suffering, emotional harm and distress, and loss of income.”

Lei is seeking $44,709 in damages from the MBTA as part of his lawsuit, which states that he lost $5,000 in wages and incurred $39,709 in medical expenses.

The lawsuit does not state whether Lei was aboard the train that caused the collision on the evening of July 30, 2021 in Brookline, but the negligence claim he is making likely refers to Owen Turner, the striking train operator who was acquitted of a gross negligence charge in January.

While a jury found

Turner not guilty of negligence, a federal investigation into the collision determined that he was largely to blame for the incident.

The National Transportation Safety Board stated in January that Turner was operating a Green Line train 23 mph over the speed limit and failed to apply his brakes before impact, due to his loss of situational awareness.

Turner told the NTSB that he blacked out or possibly fell asleep prior to impact. He was fired by the MBTA.

Prior to his termination, Turner had eight documented disciplinary actions, including two for a previous accident where a train hit a car and two for speeding.

MBTA spokesperson Joe Pesaturo declined comment, citing agency practice for pending litigation.