MTA usually pays nothing for people hit by trains

I believe this 2013 Daily News article by Pete Donahue is worth reading in its entirety.

The MTA doesn’t issue an apology when someone is hit by a subway train — and it doesn’t whip out the checkbook, either.

About 90% of the 92 “man-under” lawsuits that were resolved in the last five years ended in the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s favor, according to a breakdown by the MTA.

The MTA didn’t pay a dime in 73 of those cases. It dispensed with another nine cases with paltry go-away payments averaging $40,000, according to the authority’s information. Five big cases did result in payoffs totaling $33 million.

I wonder if the MTA lawyers would be that successful without the NYPDs immediate and seemingly automatic conclusion that "criminality is not suspected" in unwitnessed track fatalities.

Although Donahue (his email address) does not mention the NYPD Transit Bureau in this article, if its commander places the interests of the MTA above his duty to investigate suspicious violent deaths that would explain the utterly bizarre occurrence of so-many late night fatal "accidents." 

Another Late Night "Accident"

Ho hum.

 Man struck, killed by 1 train in Washington Heights

An unidentified man was fatally struck by a train in Washington Heights early Friday, witnesses and police said.

The man was found lying on the tracks of the northbound 1 train at the 168th St. subway station, police said, when he was hit. Paramedics arrived to the scene, but the man couldn't be saved.

"The guy fell and I guess the train couldn't stop," said a witness, who didn't want to give his name.

The victim's name has not been released pending family notification, officials said.

No criminality is suspected, police said.

Another article:  Man Lying on Tracks Fatally Struck by 1 Train in WaHi, Police Say

with this additional detail:

The 51-year-old man ...was on the tracks [at] about 1 a.m

Just another wacky middle-aged passenger doing what the NYPD claims is normal in the very late hours: putting himself in harm's way

Did that anonymous "witness" actually see the victim fall or was that just an NYPD-encouraged surmise?



Note to the victim's family: your chances of suing the MTA successfully are zero.

As I said, ho hum.

Man Struck by Train While "Lying on Tracks"

 Man Hit by Train Injures Leg in Park Slope, Police Say

 
By Aiden Gardiner

BROOKLYN — A man's leg was injured when he was hit by a train while lying in the subway tracks of the Fourth Avenue-Ninth Street station Tuesday morning, police said.

The man, who is in his 50s, was lying in the tracks about 4:48 a.m., when he was hit, an NYPD spokesman said.

and ...

Investigators don't believe he's the victim of a crime, an NYPD spokesman said.

The actions of this man confirm that--according to the NYPD--many people who use the subway in the dead of night behave most strangely, putting themselves at risk of injury or worse.

Of course, the management of the MTA, with the apparent concurrence of top police officials, have ensured that there are no surveillance cameras installed, cameras that could have recorded how this victim ended up on the tracks. And the near-instantaneous conclusion by the NYPD that no crime was committed follows a years-long pattern that no doubt pleases the MTA managers including, especially, their attorneys.

One wonders what this victim--who "suffered a leg injury"--would say to investigators who were not members of the NYPD.