Details are beginning to emerge about the Metro-North train that derailed in the Bronx on Sunday morning (December 1), killing four and injuring 63.
The seven car commuter train appears to have hit a curve going at too high a speed just hundreds of feet before it was to enter and pass the Spuyten Duyvil station in the Bronx while on the way to Grand Central Station in Manhattan around 7:20 am.
A source told the New York Daily News that “It’s definitely human error…the speed was excessive.”
All of the train’s cars derailed.
Four people were killed in the crash: James Lovell, 58, from Cold Spring, Putnam County; Ahn Kisook, 35, from Woodside, Queens; Donna Smith, 54, from Newburgh in Orange County, and James Ferrari, 59, of Montrose, Westchester County.
The train’s engineer/motor man/conductor was William”Bill” Rockefeller, 45, a 15-year Metro-North veteran who was one of the 63 injured. Reportedly, Rockefeller is claiming that the train’s brakes failed. The train’s black box has been retrieved and it will reveal how fast the train was going when it hit the curve and if the brakes were applied.
NYPD, FDNY, MTA employees and local first responders all sped to the scene of the incident to help victims that were able to exit the cars on their own and aid those still trapped inside. At least two people are ejected from the train after it derailed.
According to the New York Post, one FDNY employee described the scene as a “bloodbath.” The injured were taken to local hospitals.
Check out photos from the grisly scene in the gallery.
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Photos: New York Daily News, New York Post
