From: de-blasfail@nyc.com

XPost: nyc.politics, soc.women, sac.politics
XPost: alt.politics.liberalism

What a fucking Darwin award moron. The gene pool remains
unaffected and low because this fool was bred and conceived
three retards.

The woman killed behind the wheel of her Mercedes in a gruesome
wreck with a Metro-North commuter train was identified Wednesday
as the married mother of three kids.

Ellen Brody, 49, was headed home from her job at a Chappaqua
jewelry design shop Tuesday evening when she died in the fiery
6:30 p.m. crash at a Westchester County railroad crossing, The
Journal News reported.

The Edgemont womanAs car was first struck Tuesday evening by a
gate at the intersection with the Metro-North tracks, and she
stepped outside to check for damage, a source said.

oShe got back in her car and for whatever reason went forward a
little bit,o the source said. oThe train would have missed her
by a good 6 or 7 feet.o

Neither Brody nor the trainAs engineer was able to do anything
in the seconds before impact to stop the crash that killed five
commuters riding in the trainAs quiet car.

Brody and her husband Alan, a South African native, were
longtime residents of Edgemont. The couple, described as a
prominent and active local family, had two daughters and a son.

The SUV driver was one of three victims identified after all six
victims were burned beyond recognition. Passengers Eric
Vandercar, 53, of Bedford Hills, and Walter Liedtke, a curator
with the Metropolitan Musuem of Art, were also believed killed
in the crash.

It may take another full day to positively identify the three
remaining male passengers killed in the fiery crash at a
Westchester County railroad crossing, officials said.

oAll the bodies are thoroughly burned,o said county executive
Rob Astorino shortly after federal investigators arrived looking
for answers in the horrific Tuesday evening tragedy.

One patient remained in critical condition at the Westchester
Medical Center, with another listed in serious condition,
authorities said.

Six more victims were in good or fair condition, while four were
treated and released, said Patricia Wrobbel, the hospitalAs
chief nursing executive.

Federal investigators arrived Wednesday at the gruesome crash
scene to start their probe of the rush-hour wreck between a
stopped Mercedes Benz SUV and a Metro-North train doing 60 mph.

oOur intent is to find out not only what happened, but why it
happened,o said National Transportation Safety Board member
Robert Sunwalt.

A full 400 feet of track and the electrified third rail was torn
up before the train and the vehicle screeched to a stop, said
Astorino.

A source indicated that some of the dead passengers were sliced
by the rail when it tore through the bottom of the train olike
it was cutting through butter ... They didnAt have a chance to
even try and escape.o

All five were sitting on the same side of the train, the source
said. Five separate pieces of rail pierced the train at
different points, stretching across the first three cars,
according to the source.

One commuter who escaped from the trainAs last car said the
flames were so intense that the windows were melting despite the
freezing temperatures.

oAs soon as we got out, you could see the smoke and see the
fire,o said Michael Hinck, an 11-year commuting veteran. oOnce
they got the fire out, the smoke was just black.o

A source said the force of the crash wiped out a wooden shed
alongside the tracks, and the third rail was driven through the
bottom of the train car olike it was cutting through butter,o a
source said.

The trainAs engineer managed to slam on the brakes after spying
the stranded car, but it was too late to avoid the massive
collision, said Valhalla Fire Department Chief Roger King.

oHe saw the car well ahead of the crossing and immediately
locked the brakes,o King said. oBut a train going 60 mph doesnAt
stop on a dime. In an instant, he was seeing flames and smoke
filling the train car.o

The hunk of rail that tore through the train barely missed the
engineer, who helped several passengers escape the flaming wreck.

oHe was really on top of his game,o said King. oHis life was in
danger, too.o

Fifteen people were injured in the wreck that sent a fireball
into the sky and through the first car of the train.

oIt appears that the gasoline tank burst and that started the
fire, consumed the (SUV) and consuming the first car of the
first train,o Cuomo said on oCBS This Morning.o

The scene of the deadliest crash in Metro-North history was oas
gruesome as I have seen,o the governor said. The entire first
car, including all the seats, was burned or charred.

oItAs total devastation,o said one source who spoke with first
responders. oThe entire length of the interior is burned.o

The NTSB dispatched an ointerdisciplinary teamo to examine
various factors, including the signaling system at the crossing
and how the train was being operated u including the rate of
speed, said spokesman Eric Weiss said.

Rail investigator Michael Hiller is leading the team as
investigator in charge, with Sumwalt accompanying the team from
Washington.

oWe cast a very large net and try to gather all factual
information,o Sumwalt said. oEverything is on the table.o

Cuomo, on the CBS-TV morning show, said it was too soon to start
pointing fingers.

oSometimes there are just accidents,o he said. oSometimes people
just get themselves in bad situations. So I think itAs too soon
to say whatAs to blame or whoAs to blame.o

The NTSB team will stay on the scene for five to seven days, but
a full investigation will take about a year. They had already
recovered several key recording devices that will provide them
with the train speed and other important details.

According to witnesses, the woman driving the Mercedes Benz SUV
drove on the tracks at the railroad crossing u and then stopped
when one of the gates came down and struck her vehicle.

She stepped out to check on the Mercedes, but climbed back in
the car as the train barreled down the tracks at about 6:30 p.m.
Tuesday near Valhalla. She couldnAt move the SUV before the
horrifying crash that was so violent that the electrified third
rail tore through the bottom of the charred rail car.

oI am amazed that anyone got off that train alive,o said
Astorino. oIt must have been pure panic, with the flames, the
third rail and the smoke.o

The wreck occurred about 45 minutes after the northbound train
left Grand Central Terminal at 5:45 p.m., with an estimated 650
people aboard. The flaming SUV was driven about 400 feet down
the track before screeching to a halt.

The passengers fled the burning train before authorities arrived.

The previous worst Metro-North wreck killed four passengers in
December 2013 when a commuter train derailed in the Bronx. That
train took a dangerously sharp curve at nearly three times the
30 mph limit and jumped the track.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ntsb-heads-westchester- investigate-metro-north-crash-article-1.2102750

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ntsb-heads-westchester- investigate-metro-north-crash-article-1.2102750

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