Deadly Met-North engineer windfall
The Metro-North engineer who fell asleep at the switch of a train that derailed, killing four people and injuring 63, will collect a $3,200-a-month disability pension for the rest of his life, the commuter railroad said Friday.
The train, operated by William Rockefeller, was traveling at 82 mph on Dec. 1, 2013, on a sharp curve along the Spuyten Duyvil waterway in The Bronx. The speed limit on the section of track is 30 mph.
Several cars of the Hudson Line train, which had been heading to Grand Central Terminal, left the tracks and flipped on their sides.
The railroad’s Pension Disability Medical Review Board overturned an earlier decision rejecting the claim, officials said.
It said Rockefeller, 49, “is disabled from performing his function as an engineer and he is eligible now to receive his pension.’’
The railroad has already paid out $31.9 million in legal costs and settlements with people who were on the train and suffered injuries, as well as relatives of the dead, according to the Journal News.
Rockefeller, who a federal probe determined had an undiagnosed case of sleep apnea, has sued MetroNorth for $10 million, saying it was “negligent’’ for failing to provide “a reasonably safe place to work.’’
The lawsuit notes Metro-North never installed positive train control, a system that would have automatically slowed down the train as it approached the curve. That suit is still pending. Federal authorities have ordered all railroads to install the system, but the deadline keeps getting pushed back. It’s now December 2018.
Meanwhile, at least one person who suffered life-altering injuries in the crash, Maria Herbert, a conductor on the ill-fated train, bears Rockefeller no hard feelings.
Her injuries were so severe, she had to retire, although “I loved my job,’’ she said.
Asked about Rockefeller’s pension windfall, she told The Post: “I’m glad for him. Sleep apnea is a condition a lot of people don’t know they have. It would be the same if he’d had a stroke or a heart attack.’’
Herbert, who suffered a broken collarbone, two broken ribs, spinal injuries and loss of short-term memory, said “I worked with him and he is a good person.’’
Sleep apnea often goes undiagnosed, says the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.
Its Web site states, “Most people who have sleep apnea don’t know they have it,’’ adding it’s “a leading cause of excessive daytime sleepiness.’’