Metro-North Engineer Who Fell Asleep Causing 4 Deaths to Get Lifetime Pension

The Metro-North engineer who lost control of a speeding train when he fell asleep, causing a derailment and the death of four people, will receive a $3,200 monthly disability pension.

The MTA’s Pension Disability Medical Review Board ruled in favor of engineer William Rockefeller, after he appeal the decision of the MTA’s Defined Benefit Pension Board’s Medical Board, according to an article at lohud.com.

Rockefeller fell asleep at the controls of the train the morning of Dec. 1, 2013, and it took the Spuyten Duyvil curve at 80 mph when it should have only been going 30 mph. The locomotive was at the back of the train, pushing the passenger cars.

Four people were killed and 60 more were injured. The train was heading from Poughkeepsie to Grand Central.

Rockefeller is suing the MTA for $10 million, arguing that the agency should have had an automatic braking system built into the train that would have slowed it down when it passed the speed limit.

In the wake of the accident the MTA put in new protections at the Spuyten Duyvil curve.

Rockefeller also is receiving a federal pension.

Attorney Ira Maurer, who is representing Rockefeller, would not comment to lohud.com on the pension award.

Patch file photo.