![]() He returned to work a week later - but never got paid for his three days off after MTA officials said the temporary leave only applies to operators who witness a suicide. He investigated, and found a man decapitated behind the final car of the train. station on Labor Day when his emergency brakes were triggered. Michael Zalackas, 65, was operating an R train out of Brooklyn’s 86th St. Sometimes the time off or compensation is withheld from traumatized operators - a point that leads to arbitration and contention among union officials. Train operators are contractually obligated to take three days off after a 12-9, and many spend months on worker’s compensation after their train hits someone. They blame themselves when they were just doing their job.”Ī medical examiner worker responds after a person was fatally struck by a train at the 116th Street 2/3 station in Manhattan, New York on Sunday, December 6. What could I have done differently?” said Melendez. “Right from the beginning I had a lot of questioning. So was Rodriguez, who after three months still hasn’t been able to continue driving trains. Melendez spend eight months off work seeing a psychologist each week. They’re always on the lookout for jumpers or anything strange on the track ahead - but there’s no stopping someone who wants to use the subway to kill themselves. Eight hours a day, five days a week, these crews run the heaviest machinery in New York City, with the goal of safely transporting millions of people to their destinations. Subway train operators must be fixated on the tracks ahead to do their job. Melendez over the last year began working with Transport Workers Union Local 100 - which represents a majority of the city’s transit workers and all of its train operators - to help motormen who’ve experienced 12-9s. New York City Medical Examiner employees remove the body of a person struck by a train on the 1 Line at 34th St. 1 train in October 2018 that hit and killed a suicidal woman. Everyone knows someone who died from the virus,” said Jose Melendez, 39, who was operating a No. “A lot of people are going through a lot of stressful times now. Train crews feel the pandemic has prompted more New Yorkers to use the subway as a means for suicide - and believe handling a 12-9 is too much to bear in a year when COVID-19 has killed at least 130 MTA employees. “It’s further evidence that much more city resources need to be devoted toward mental health and the crisis facing the city.” “These are all tragedies and our hearts go out to the victims and their families,” said MTA spokesman Ken Lovett. During each of those incidents the train crews did not report seeing the victims, but their bodies caught trip arms beneath subway cars designed to automatically trigger the brakes. That’s on pace to nearly match the 62 people who died on city subway tracks in all of 2019 - despite daily ridership plummeting by more than 75% due to the COVID-19 pandemic.Īt least 32 of the people killed by subway trains this year either jumped off platforms in front of a train or stood on the tracks ahead of one, according to internal incident reports reviewed by the Daily News.Īnother 11 weren’t clear suicides.
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