Boston Personal Injury Attorney Blog
According to a recent news article from ABC 7 News, a 31-year-old man was killed in a horrific and confusing accident in which he was pinned between a commuter rail train and the station. The accident happened during the evening rush hour when the victim was on his way home from work.
Authorities have said the victim, who worked as a mechanic nearby the commuter rail station, was waiting for a train, and, as it was approaching the station, he managed to slip off the edge or the platform and get his waist pinned between the train car and the platform. While his injuries ultimately proved fatal, he was conscious and talking to firefighters as they worked to free him from the train.The reason he was still awake despite the massive internal and external damage the train had done was because the train car was pinning him to the station and therefore it was essentially acting as a giant tourniquet. This is not uncommon in car accident, and even train accidents, thought it is much more likely that type of accident will occur involving multiple cars, or a car and a building or other structure.
When paramedics arrived on the scene of the accident, they knew they had to get the train off the victim in a controlled manner, so they could reapply pressure to him immediately to prevent him from bleeding out. For this reason, the firefighters decided to use emergency rescue airbags. While they had trained with this device and used them in the past, they had never attempted to use them to move a passenger car on a train. Nonetheless, they were able to move the train over sideways and away from the platform and freed the victim. At first there were many reports that he survived the accident and would make a recovery. Unfortunately, this was not the case, as he was later pronounced dead at a local level-one trauma center. The victim was scheduled to take the LSAT test, as he was wanting to become at attorney, according to one family member who was interviewed as part of this article.
If you are in an accident involving public transportation, it is essential that you contact an experienced Boston personal injury attorney as soon as possible. One reason is that when an accident involves a government body or political subdivision, to use the term in the Massachusetts General Laws (MGL), you may have to put the agency on notice much sooner that you would normally have to with the statute of limitations alone in the case of a private defendant. It is also important to discuss with your attorney the concept of sovereign or governmental immunities.
As your attorney can explain, when you sue a governmental agency, the agency many have some protections for the amount that can be claimed and the type of lawsuit that can be brought against it. The reason for this is because the law is set up to protect the government, so it can carry on its needed business without constantly fearing lawsuits.
If you have suffered personal injury in Massachusetts, call Jeffrey Glassman Injury Lawyers for a free and confidential appointment — (617) 777-7777.
Additional Resources:
Girlfriend of man killed in BART accident mourns loss, January 7, 2017, By Katie Utehs, ABC News 7
More Blog Entries:
Eye Test as Means to Test for Concussion and Brain Injury, July 23, 2016, Boston Brain Injury Lawyer Blog