At least 33 people were injured after a Long Island Railroad (LIRR) passenger train partially derailed a half mile east of New Hyde Park, officials said. The train had sideswiped a stationary maintenance car, officials said.
All the victims suffered non-life threatening injuries, Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano said. One passenger was treated for multiple broken bones and had to go undergo surgery, officials said.
Government officials said the work train was violating the space that was supposed to be clear for the passenger train. The passenger train’s second and third cars lurched off the tracks from the collision, officials said.
“It felt like a car crash. I’ve never experienced anything like that,” said Josh Mantell, 23, who was in the train’s third car from the rear.
Another passenger, Andrew Valentin, 21, who was located in one of the train’s front cars, said the collision caused him to plunge into another person on the train.
“Neither of us realized what was going on,” he told reporters.
Passenger John Rooney said everyone on the train was in a panic.
“It was a sudden jolt – a train slid for about a hundred yards. Then, everybody just braced to see if anything else would happen,” Rooney said.
The attorneys at Morgan Levine Dolan have represented many people injured in mass transit accidents. During the early stages of the investigation, it is imperative to get private attorneys involved in the process. Too many times, the mass transit carrier performs the investigation and many pieces of evidence are either tampered with or ignored.
We have recovered millions of dollars for our injured clients. If a loved one has been injured or killed in a train accident, contact Jared Levine of Morgan Levine Dolan at 212-785-5115 today.
Source: New York Daily News
