Probe into fatal Metro-North crash centers on how SUV ended up on tracks
VALHALLA, N.Y.— An investigation into what caused a fiery crash that killed a motorist and five rail riders is focusing on how a mother of three described by friends as safety conscious ended up between two crossing gates in her SUV as a commuter train barreled toward her.
“The big question everyone wants to know is: Why was this vehicle in the crossing?” Robert Sumwalt, a National Transportation Safety Board vice chairman, told reporters in suburban New York a day after the deadliest accident in the 32-year history of Metro-North Railroad, one of the nation’s busiest commuter railroads.
NTSB investigators were working Thursday to examine the tracks, interview the crew and find out whether Ellen Brody’s Mercedes SUV had a data recorder of its own.