(This article by Noah Bierman appeared in the Boston Globe on September 3)
BOSTON, MA – A train engineer facing scrutiny for his role in a runaway freight car crash has refused to answer key questions under oath in a civil case, citing his right against self-incrimination.
The unidentified train engineer was deposed in June as part of an MBTA lawsuit against CSX Transportation, which was responsible for securing a 112-ton freight car that came loose, rolling down 3 miles of track on March 25, before ramming into an MBTA commuter train and injuring some 150 commuters in Canton.
Court documents filed July 24 by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority say the CSX engineer “refused to answer any questions regarding his conduct that day – asserting his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.”
According to the court filing, the questions he refused to answer included whether he drank alcohol the day of the accident, whether hand brakes had been set on the runaway freight car, whether anyone had placed a chocking device in the wheels that would have stopped the car from rolling, and whether anyone had set a device that would have derailed the train to prevent it from entering the main line train tracks.
Asserting Fifth Amendment rights is not an admission of guilt and is often done on the advice of attorneys. A CSX spokesman, Bob Sullivan, yesterday recited a portion of the company’s July 28 court filing that said its employees properly secured the railcar. In the court filing, the company also said employees were exercising their Fifth Amendment rights in the civil case because they feared repercussions from a simultaneous criminal investigation being conducted by MBTA police. The accident occurred after the engineer dropped off a set of freight cars at the Cohenno lumber company in Stoughton at about noon. The suit, which also names Cohenno as a defendant, claims that CSX workers failed to secure the train car and that Cohenno workers lost control of it in their yard, minutes before it entered the main railroad tracks and smashed into a rush-hour commuter train.
“As far as I know, they [the engineer and the conductor] did everything properly from the evidence I saw afterward,” said George Newman, chairman of Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, Local 57.
Lawyers for Cohenno could not be reached.
The Federal Railroad Administration, which is leading the federal probe, will not file criminal charges related to the crash because there were no fatalities “and there was no apparently intentional motive,” said Rob Kulat, a spokesman.
MBTA transit police are concluding a separate investigation and have turned over most evidence to the Norfolk district attorney’s office, said Joe Pesaturo, an MBTA spokesman. He would not comment on specifics of the case.
The MBTA filed its suit to recover the value of its damaged commuter train, but also to determine who is responsible for paying medical claims and defending lawsuits. At least five passengers have filed suit, and at least 100 have filed claims.
The judge in the case is trying to force CSX, Cohenno, the MBTA, and the private company that runs the commuter service to set up a fund so that passengers with minor injuries can settle claims now.