Family of Hoboken train crash victim files lawsuit

<p>The family of a woman killed when a New Jersey Transit commuter train slammed into a station last year has filed a wrongful death lawsuit.</p>

News 12 Staff

Jun 27, 2017, 5:43 PM

Updated 2,506 days ago

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The family of a woman killed when a New Jersey Transit commuter train slammed into a station last year has filed a wrongful death lawsuit.
Lawyers for Fabiola Bittar de Kroon's family filed the suit Tuesday in state Superior Court in Hudson County. They are seeking unspecified compensatory damages.
The 34-year-old Brazilian-born lawyer was standing on a platform when she was killed by falling debris in the Sept. 29, 2016 crash in Hoboken. It occurred just minutes after she had dropped off her 2-year-old daughter at day care.
The suit claims the engineer, Thomas Gallagher, was operating the train at, "excessive, careless and reckless speeds.
The train's speed surged to more than twice the legal limit of 10 mph in the seconds before the crash, causing extensive terminal damage which in turn, caused de Kroon's death, according to the suit.
The suit also alleges that NJ Transit could have prevented this if it had installed Positive Train Control to automatically stop the train, and that a second crew member should have been alongside the engineer.
More than 100 people were injured in the crash. It was later revealed that Gallagher suffered from sleep apnea.
NJ Transit would not comment on the lawsuit.
The Associated Press wire services contributed to this report.


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