BOSTON (WHDH) - Family members of a man dragged and killed by an MBTA Red Line train called a federal report on the death “brutal” and said the T has been negligent when ensuring rider safety.
The victim was dragged 105 feet at the Broadway MBTA station and a fault in the door’s control system was identified, investigators said.
Robinson Lalin, 39, was dragged 105 feet at the Broadway MBTA station and killed when a Red Line train’s doors closed on his arm last month. State and MBTA officials have investigated along with the National Transportation Safety Board, which released a preliminary report Monday.
The NTSB report said Lalin tried to exit the six-car train through the side passenger door of the railcar as the train doors were closing and his right arm became trapped in the door. The train then departed the station, dragging him along the platform about 105 feet and onto the surface below, near the tracks.
Federal officials said a door control system that is supposed to prevent trains from moving while their doors are open malfunctioned.
“MBTA trains are designed and equipped with safety features to prevent them from moving when the passenger doors are obstructed,” the report said. “NTSB investigators examined and tested the railcar involved after the accident, identifying a fault in a local door control system that enabled the train to move with the door obstructed.”
The report said the MBTA looked for that malfunction in other railcars and that no other similar faults were found. But Kelvin Lalin, Robinson Lalin’s nephew, said the report does not exonerate the T.
“This report is brutal,” Kelvin Lalin said, holding a sign reading “The MBTA slaughtered my uncle” during a vigil at the Broadway station. “We’re restless at the moment at this terrible tragedy out of pure negligence from the MBTA … I don’t want another family to have to suffer how we’re suffering.”
The NTSB’s investigation is ongoing and in a statement the MBTA said rider safety was of “utmost importance,” and that that they were adding new door inspection protocols. But Kelvin Lalin said the T has still not called his family about his uncle’s death.
“I want to hear some words, I want to hear from them,” Lalin said. “They apologized on a board meeting virtually, but that’s not enough, I want them to call me!”
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