Woman Survives Metro-North Dragging

Feb 25, 2005 12:04 pm US/Eastern
(1010 WINS) (NORWALK, Conn.) A 20-year-old woman is recovering after she was dragged hundreds of feet by a commuter train at the Norwalk station earlier this week.

Simone Medina suffered cuts and bruises on her arms and legs after she was dragged more than 500 feet and thrown from a moving train.

"I saw the train rolling by me," Medina said Thursday. "I thought I was going to die."

Metro North spokesman Dan Brucker said Medina put herself in peril by trying to get on the train after it had started to pull away from the station.

"She went up to the train and she and her friend aboard the train attempted to shove and wedge the door open while the train was in motion," Brucker said.

Medina and her family are angered that the train did not stop, although passengers apparently yelled to conductors to stop the train and pressed emergency buttons. She says a passenger saved her by pushing her arm and leg out of the door at the last minute.

A Metropolitan Transportation Authority police department report says a station security guard saw Medina being dragged along the platform. It says the security guard ran to the train and banged on the windows, and the train stopped.

"He then states that the train began full motion again still dragging (Medina)," according to the report. Medina's left shoe was found inside the train.

Medina said she and her friend, Barbara Stevens, 19, decided to take the 5:09 a.m. train from South Norwalk to Stamford.

Stevens joined her and, as they approached the train on the platform, walked ahead of Medina and got on board. As Medina was about to enter, she said she turned her head away to face someone she thought she knew and the doors closed on her arm and leg.

The train began moving slowly and Medina hopped along until it stopped. She thought the door would open and she'd be fine. But then it began moving again.

"It picked up speed. I was caught. It was dragging me because I couldn't keep up with the train," she said.

Give that girl a Darwin. MTAPD should arrest her for trying to impede the operation of the train.

Hmm MNCR is still investigating but Dogbert knows who's fault it is ??
A bit quick on the assumptions sir, do you know if the conductor actually looked before closing the doors ?? Do you know if a mechanical defect existed on that pair of doors ..??

Dutch,

What type of car was involved?
(Just curious...as you know, we have a thread going in LIRR forum about M-1 dragging in the 70s.)

Tom

Tom it involved a m2, I believe. The cars have the same doors and door mechanism as the M1 made by Vapor.

Aren't the conductors supposed to check for this as the train pulls out of the station? Even if she tried to baord a moving train, it should have stopped, thus becoming a police matter.

Here's a link to today's follow up in The Advocate:

http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/lo ... -headlines

It seems like she tried to pry the doors back open after they had closed. I know this is possible, but you would need to stick something into the door to keep it open a few inches because they are still trying to remain closed. In her case maybe she tried getting her whole body through this small opening and got stuck. I was on an extremely crowded train that broke downl several years ago, we were standing and the temperature must have be 95 in the car. Some passengers pried open a door and held it with their shoe to get fresh air, it did help but the crew made them close it.

I saw this in the newpaper and thought there was a great deal of misinformation. Where are these emergency buttons that are on the trains. The communication appliances are not for the passengers. There are only a couple of signs showing anything that says emergency on them. There are signs for the windows, there are instructions for emergencies by the 4 and 5 seaters next to the vestibules and there is a sign for the emergency dump valve. If a passenger had dumped the train instead of randomly hitting buzzers this girl would not have been as badly injured. I find it hard to believe that passengers were yelling at the train crew and they would be non-responsive. I wish that the writer would have talked to someone at MNRR to get the "real" story.

Give that girl a Darwin. MTAPD should arrest her for trying to impede the operation of the train.

I know, in my Boston area, if she were doing that, she would be arrested for "interfering with the safe operation of a train". Glad she wasn't badly hurt.

I have the REAL story and it bears ABSOLUTELY NO resemblance to what was reported in any media, unfortunately, I can not share it here, but suffice it to say that at this point it appears the train crew is NOT at fault.

Unfortunately, disclosing it here could get me jammed up somewhere else.

Terminal Proceed wrote:I have the REAL story and it bears ABSOLUTELY NO resemblance to what was reported in any media, unfortunately, I can not share it here, but suffice it to say that at this point it appears the train crew is NOT at fault.

Unfortunately, disclosing it here could get me jammed up somewhere else.

Do you know when/if this information will ever be declassified? Oh, and if that girl sues, as far as you know, do you think that the railroad would be able to use what you know?

Yes they would definetely be able to use what I know since i got it from the official source - and NO I do not believe the full story will be declassified.

Dutchnut: I just have no sympathy for anyone trying to stick themselves or something in the doors of a train that is either about to or has actually begun to leave the station, regardless of the conductor's actions or inactions.

People are way too self centered. They hold doors and expect everyone else to cheerfully wait for them. If you miss the train, TS. There's always another one.

From the sounds of it she played with fire and got burned.

Looks like this is in the news again...

http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/lo ... -headlines

What kind of redundancies do the NH cars have to prevent such an incident from happening?