Dem Senator Nearly Hit by Train During Press Conference About Commuter Safety
Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) has been waging a campaign demanding safety accountability for the Metro-North railway this week after it was discovered that the MTA has had 139 violations resulting in $552,000 worth of fines over the last ten years. But as he discovered this week, there is also an element of personal responsibility when it comes to commuter train safety.
Blumenthal was holding a press conference Friday on the Milford Metro-North station platform when an Amtrak train came barreling into the station and almost knocked him out cold. Just as Milford Mayor Ben Blake was saying, “safety, as you know, is paramount,” the senator was blown back from the edge and his easel and chart nearly came crashing down with him.
Perhaps someone told Blumenthal that no trains would be arriving during the presser, but even so, that yellow line near the edge is there for a reason and he clearly chose to ignore it. If you’re going to send out tweets like this:
Rail operators must strive for perfection when it comes to safety—125,000 daily commuters on Metro-North’s New Haven line deserve that much.
— Richard Blumenthal (@SenBlumenthal) April 18, 2014
…you should probably at least watch where you’re standing on the train platform. He should just be happy that there was no engineer sitting at the front of the train ready to kick him in the head.
Watch video below, via WTNH:
[photo via screengrab]
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