Deceased Dover PO family sues NJT and engineer and others

I like how they word it- looking to "push the limits of the existing law." If you push a law so far, you make it meaningless.

wpdj61, As a dover resident serving in Baghdad your friend has my thoughst and prayers. I hope and pray that he and his family will make it though just fine with proper counseling, and support from his family and friends at NJ Transit and elsewhere. I do hope he will find a great lawyer and countersue not only Dover Police and the family for smearing his name but the Daily Record for printing his name. As a long life Dover resident and one that wil lreturn there after I coem back from Iraq I do feel that the Dover Police have goen too far and need to be knocked off their perch. They had better make sure their own closests are clean beofre they start barkign up the wrong tree because the laywer or lawyers that the NJ Transit and NJT engineer will get will expose those clowns for who they are which is a corrupt old boy, Keystone Cop Dept that they are. Ditto for that 6th grade reading level Newspaper known as the Daily Record. The Star Ledger has more class then that rag.

Dover just elected a new Mayor. I hope he will refrom the police dept esp how they treat NJT and the people. Dover is the olny Police dept where you feel that they talk down to you and try to intimidate you rather then get to know and help the community. It's too bad the Dover PD can't take lessons from the Port Authority, NJT PD or MTA PD. They are by far the most professiona; and they get theri job doen without acting like half Iraqi Republican Guard and half Iraqi Ministry of Information by lying and trying to hide this stuff plus flippng it around to make it the engineers fault rather then the lazy fool who didn't inform NJT about what was going on just East of the rail yard..

Also just to add that your friend might want to take his case to the media and tell his side of the story. so far I've heard nothign but the Dover PD and now this greedy people's side. It's time the rest of the country knows how badly treated he's been and to tell his story to more credible folks at NBC,ABC, CBS, CNN,etc. They love to tackle police brutality cases especially sicne the person is INNOCENT OF ALL WORNG DOING and the police dept was at fault.

Simply amazing on how work mans comp protects the police officers from wrong doing but yet this officer's family will go after an innocent man and bullying NJT.

nick11a wrote:Wow, I'm surprised they have the balls to say what they say about the engineer. Hopefully, this family will learn a thing or two in this suit.

Nick. that language is 'boilerplate' that is used in just about every accident related personal injury lawsuit. Nothing out of the ordinary as to this accident or the engineer.

ryanov wrote:I'm sorry to see that this has gone this way. Hopefully the judge will see this as a waste of time will make short work of it. It's a pretty odd case, considering half of the people being sued are unknowns. "We hope to find through the discovery process if there's anyone else to sue." You couldn't ask prior who owns the property and who maintains it? C'mon. Weak.

It's common practice for a plaintiff's attorney to add a "John or Jane Doe" to the complaint, as it makes it easier to implead the others if they are discovered later, and may even preserve rights beyond the statute of limitations. If the lawyer leaves someone out of the complaint, it can be grounds for a malpractive suit against the lawyer.

BlockLine_4111 wrote:I just glanced quickly over this and my first and foremost concern is that the media, etc. blew the engineer's cover. Total breach of confidence possibly lending more firepower to him in his suit and/or countersuits. Does anyone concur or beg to differ?

No breach of confidence whatsoever. The complaint naming the engineer became public information the second it was filed with the court. I don't see how the publicity would significantly affect the defendant's case.

BlockLine_4111 wrote:The events as described and reported by the Daily Record may possibily bring liability and litigation to their (i.e. the newspapers) own doorsteps. Freedom of speech is a priviledge and privilidges are not to be abused. Just food for thought.

Hi Block--

Freedom of Speech and Freedom of the Press are not privileges--the are rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution. They can only be taken away by a constitutional amendment. Or Dick Cheney.

Idiot Railfan wrote:

BlockLine_4111 wrote:The events as described and reported by the Daily Record may possibily bring liability and litigation to their (i.e. the newspapers) own doorsteps. Freedom of speech is a priviledge and privilidges are not to be abused. Just food for thought.

Hi Block--

Freedom of Speech and Freedom of the Press are not privileges--the are rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution. They can only be taken away by a constitutional amendment. Or Dick Cheney.

I never proposed or implied they should be taken away. But those are good points anyway. This whole Dover fiasco is a mess.

jus goes to show you the incompetence of people who ride the railroad and fail to understand its operations and rules. According to the operations rule book of the Average locomotive engineer, they are to Operate their train at the MAS(Maximum Authorized Speed) unless conditions on the right of way interfere, or equipment malfunction. As a Aspiring locomotive engineer and possibly Road Foreman of engines, i would love to defend a locomotive engineer and a railroad against foolishness such as this. But for now all i can say May our thoughts and prayers surround that locomotive engineer even right now. Operating rules, and people who REALLY know how the railroad works, should save NJ transit and the locomotive engineer from this unbelievable stupidy and incompetence of this.

MNRR PA OPERATOR
"1563 ENGINE NUMBER 8741 YOUR LINED TRACK 2 TO TRACK 2 IN A WESTWARD DIRECTION CP216, OK BY THE RED, CHECK YOUR ROUTE, LET ME KNOW WHEN YOUR CLEAR WEST CP 216 TRACK 2 OVER"

MNRR PA OPERATOR wrote:jus goes to show you the incompetence of people who ride the railroad and fail to understand its operations and rules. According to the operations rule book of the Average locomotive engineer, they are to Operate their train at the MAS(Maximum Authorized Speed) unless conditions on the right of way interfere, or equipment malfunction. As a Aspiring locomotive engineer and possibly Road Foreman of engines, i would love to defend a locomotive engineer and a railroad against foolishness such as this. But for now all i can say May our thoughts and prayers surround that locomotive engineer even right now. Operating rules, and people who REALLY know how the railroad works, should save NJ transit and the locomotive engineer from this unbelievable stupidy and incompetence of this.

MNRR PA OPERATOR
"1563 ENGINE NUMBER 8741 YOUR LINED TRACK 2 TO TRACK 2 IN A WESTWARD DIRECTION CP216, OK BY THE RED, CHECK YOUR ROUTE, LET ME KNOW WHEN YOUR CLEAR WEST CP 216 TRACK 2 OVER"

Exactly. An expert witness on rail operations, etc. is likely what is called for here. Probably should be someone like yourself rather than a NJT inhouse expert, to minimise claims of bias.

As a firefighter, I can not tell you how many times my department is called out to fight brush fires on the tracks...and just a few days ago the Traxx lounge at the Lyndhurst train station. The first thing that our fire chief asks the police desk is "Did you notify Transit?" So I must ask this then, did anyone ever notify Transit about the FD and this police officer being on the tracks....no mention of it here. Furthermore, even if the local police did notify NJ Transit that there was an incident on their tracks, they need to give ample time for this message to get relayed and acknowledged by train operator.

In my opinion, if the town failed to notify Transit, then the town is at fault....and if they did notify Transit and they just did not relay the message, then Transit is at fault. However, I don't feel the train operator is at fault here, unless he ignored the message....but I highly doubt that is the case if this person is a professional. Seems he is just a guy doing his job who was at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Jim F.

FireChaserE3 wrote:As a firefighter, I can not tell you how many times my department is called out to fight brush fires on the tracks...and just a few days ago the Traxx lounge at the Lyndhurst train station. The first thing that our fire chief asks the police desk is "Did you notify Transit?" So I must ask this then, did anyone ever notify Transit about the FD and this police officer being on the tracks....no mention of it here. Furthermore, even if the local police did notify NJ Transit that there was an incident on their tracks, they need to give ample time for this message to get relayed and acknowledged by train operator.

In my opinion, if the town failed to notify Transit, then the town is at fault....and if they did notify Transit and they just did not relay the message, then Transit is at fault. However, I don't feel the train operator is at fault here, unless he ignored the message....but I highly doubt that is the case if this person is a professional. Seems he is just a guy doing his job who was at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Jim F.

Was NJ Transit notified by the Dover PD? No they were not.

thebigc wrote:

FireChaserE3 wrote:As a firefighter, I can not tell you how many times my department is called out to fight brush fires on the tracks...and just a few days ago the Traxx lounge at the Lyndhurst train station. The first thing that our fire chief asks the police desk is "Did you notify Transit?" So I must ask this then, did anyone ever notify Transit about the FD and this police officer being on the tracks....no mention of it here. Furthermore, even if the local police did notify NJ Transit that there was an incident on their tracks, they need to give ample time for this message to get relayed and acknowledged by train operator.

In my opinion, if the town failed to notify Transit, then the town is at fault....and if they did notify Transit and they just did not relay the message, then Transit is at fault. However, I don't feel the train operator is at fault here, unless he ignored the message....but I highly doubt that is the case if this person is a professional. Seems he is just a guy doing his job who was at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Jim F.

Was NJ Transit notified by the Dover PD? No they were not.

Yup, the cop just went ahead on the track area without notifying his dispatcher IIRC. So, the cop and the local police department is at fault.

I said it before and I am going to say it again...WHY ISN'T THE FAMILY SUING THE DOVER POLICE DEPARTMENT?? Is it because this crazy family is trying to protect their fellow brethren who need to protect and serve? What a joke...! Isn't this the same police department that had all the corruption going on with their police chief 10-15 years ago? Didn't they just fire a couple of cops for snorting cocaine on the job?? Good job protecting and serving

It could be the families warped mentality that the big bad railroad needs to get crippled financially...you know all those annoying, loud, bad trains destroying our way of life! If the judge has any common sense he will throw the case out knowing that NJT was not at fault! I'm not holding my breath!!

As a dover resident I will tell you that the Dover Police has had more then their share of corruption. Dover didn't fire a couple of police officers for drugs. It was only the one guy who took it out of the evidence lock up. Cheif Kelly or the Late former Cheif Kelly was ousted sometime around 1999/2000. He was in an accident on Rt 46 that hit another vehicle. That one was a DUI. With Steve Brennen years later he too was in an accident alos on Rt 46 but in Mine Hill and that was a DUI. Dover was a pretty good dept but now has really sunk low. I do hope with developments like the Transit Hub and Master Plan we will not sink to the lows of Camden and with the new Mayor voted in (James Dodd) along with members of the Town Council they will clean up this mess.

I do hope the judge will throw out this mess and blame the police dept. also I hope a countersuit is filed from the engineer and NJT.

Again to the engineer, You need to tell you side of the story to the press. I've heard nothing but garbage from the Dover PD along with the anit Transit people blaming NJT and now this nut job family who has it out for you, NJT and anyone they can find. We need to hear NJT and the engioneers and beleive me the media will love to hear police brutality cases and make those guys who bullied you look like the thugs they were. They did not act like police officers but like the SS.

The family apprently tried to sue the police but accoridng to the Daily Record they couldn't due to work man's comp protecting the officers. However they could go after the Town which they are doing.