WASHINGTON — A passenger had a dog’s leash caught in the door of a Bay Area Rapid Transit train as it departed the station, dragging her along the station platform until she collided with a gate at the end of the platform, according to the National Transportation Safety Board’s determination of probable cause in the passenger fatality in a September 2021 incident.
The final report on the Sept. 13, 2021, fatality at BART’s Powell Street station in San Francisco was completed Feb. 28 but released this week.
Surveillance video showed the passenger was traveling with a dog attached by a leash to the passenger’s backpack. The female passenger left the ninth car of the 10-car train moments before its departure while the dog remained on board, with the railcar door closing on the leash. The passenger attempted to open the door and then attempted to free herself from the leash; when both attempts were unsuccessful, the woman was dragged by the train until she struck the gate.
Investigators determined that the train’s operator followed procedure to look for passengers departing but did not see the passenger struggling with the door some 611 feet from the operator’s location. Investigators determined that dim lighting at the station made it difficult to monitor passenger activity; BART has subsequently completed lighting and painting improvements to aid visibility and also has conducted an awareness campaign on safe travel practices with pets.
The basic circumstances of the fatality — with a passenger dragged by a dog leash caught in a closed railcar door — are remarkably similar to those of a DC Metrorail accident just last month [see “Man dragged by DC Metrorail train dies …,” Trains News Wire, Feb. 16, 2023].
Jury is not going to see it that way. They will see an operator who failed to see that his train was clear, set up for failure by BART’s bad lighting and dark walls, along with an excessive long view requirement, along with doors that didn’t sense that something was in them. Lawyers for her estate will have a field day. At 600+ feet operator could have very well seen her but could not tell she was in distress. Probably looked like just another person on the platform from so far away.
Passengers fault 100% in my opinion…either do not wait until the last minute to exit the train or pick up your dog. Could she not have just removed the backpack, instead of trying to get the leash off? Not going to read the full report to find out, but that would have been another option.
Truly sad and unfortunate that a life was needlessly lost. However any court, be it a judge or jury that awards the deceased’s estate damages, of any kind, would be a miscarriage of justice and an absolute travesty.
Wouldn’t be any worse miscarriage of justice than the drunk lady leaving a bar and wondering onto the tracks and being struck by a train that was just awarded a whole pile of money. I believe that was in this news section just last week?