Engineer In Fatal Crash Had Spotty Safety Record

The engineer of the train that ran a stop signal before a fatal commuter crash had been suspended repeatedly for failing to stop and even derailing a train, investigators said Sunday.

John DeCurtis, who was one of three people killed in Friday’s crash, had been suspended a total of 105 days since 1983 for infractions, said Jim Hall, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board.

DeCurtis had derailed a train once, run stop signals twice and missed a station once. He last had been suspended for running a stop signal in December 1989, but he had not been involved in any previous crashes.

DeCurtis, 59, also had had trouble differentiating between some colors, according to his medical records. Hall described the vision deficiency as moderate but would not elaborate.

“There will have to be a further and more detailed review of all the performance information that’s available to us in regard to both of the engineers and the crews before we will be coming to any conclusions,” Hall said.

The engineer of the other train, Al DeBonis, had a clean disciplinary record, Hall said. DeBonis, 47, also was killed, as was a passenger. The crash injured 162 people.