BOSTON (WHDH) - New surveillance video revealed in court Tuesday shows the moment of impact during a July 2021 Green Line crash that injured 27 people.
Owen Turner, 50, is charged with gross negligence in connection with the crash. His trial began on Tuesday and is set to wrap up Wednesday.
Prosecutors say Turner was speeding, going three times the legal limit when he plowed into the back of another trolley on Comm Ave in Boston. They say he did not apply the brakes.
Turner pleaded not guilty and was fired by the MBTA.
Takeesha King was at the controls of the train that was hit.
“It was nothing like I’ve ever imagined to ever happen to me on the job,” King said. “Loud bang, passengers screaming, passengers displaced. Very gory, bloody.”
Luke Sebastian was on the train that smashed into the other from behind.
“I remember being jerked this way and hearing a loud noise, and then underneath me black smoke came up,” Sebastian said.
During his time with the MBTA, officials say Turner was suspended six times, and the year before the crash, he was cited three times for speeding.
In a new report from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), federal investigators determined that the operator’s “loss of situational awareness” was the likely cause of the collision.
Investigators say Turner told them everything went black and he thinks he fell asleep, but witnesses testified that in the moments after the crash he denied falling asleep or any other issues.
Turner’s attorney argued the crash was simply an accident.
After closing arguments Wednesday, jurors will have to decide if Turner should be held criminally responsible for the crash.
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