If the MTA really wants to address its budget shortfall, it should start hiring better lawyers or better train conductors. For the second time this year, a jury has awarded a seven-figure payout to someone too drunk stay on the platform.
James Sanders, a 47-year-old Army veteran, had a night of rum-swilling fun go horribly wrong when he stumbled onto the tracks at the Winthrop Street station and was struck by an oncoming train. He lost his right eye and leg as a result of the collision.
Having ruled that the conductor had sufficient time to stop the train, a jury on Friday awarded him $7 million for his troubles.
"The money doesn't change my condition or anything," he told The New York Post.
In February, Dustin Dibble of Brooklyn lost a piece of his leg when he was ht by a train at the Union Square stop, after falling drunk on the tracks. As with Sanders, a jury awarded him $2.3 million because they felt the conductor had had enough time to hit the breaks.
This year alone, the MTA is on hook for nearly $10 million. Add to that the $200,000 lost to the one-inch gap at the new South Ferry station, and you begin to see why it is that the $3 fare is inevitable.
