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Father Of LIRR Train Gap Victim Plans To Sue

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Oct 24, 2006 10:20 am US/Eastern

Father Of LIRR Train Gap Victim Plans To Sue

Had A Problem With Train Gaps? Let Us Know!

Closing The Gap: Riders React To The LIRR Gap

NEW YORK (AP) ― The father of a Minnesota teenager who died this summer after falling into a gap between a Long Island Rail Road train and the platform has filed notice he intends to sue the LIRR and its parent agency, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

"I would like to be face to face with whoever the decision-makers are who made the decisions that led to this," Peter Smead told Newsday in Tuesday's editions after filing notice he intends to seek $5 million in damages. "This is not a problem that the railroad was not aware of. They knew it, they knew it."

Natalie Smead, an 18-year-old from Northfield, Minn., fell onto the tracks as she was getting off a westbound train at Woodside on Aug. 5, headed for a concert at Randall's Island. She managed to cross under the platform and was trying to climb up the other side when she was struck by an eastbound train.

"Natalie was 5-foot-6 and 120 pounds," Smead said. "She was an average-size person. How can an average size person fall through and it not be a problem?"

Railroad officials said it is the only known fatality attributed to someone falling through the gap, but they concede there have been nearly 130 injuries to commuters slipping through gaps since 2004 -- an average of more than one a week at its 124 stations that stretch from Manhattan to Montauk. Gaps are as wide as 15 inches at some stations.

Railroad officials have since announced plans to move tracks closer to some stations, and have launched a public relations campaign to warn commuters of the possible hazards.

Bob Sullivan, Smead's attorney, said in the notice of claim that LIRR officials "did not care about danger to their passengers," and that the MTA and LIRR knew about the gap problem and did nothing to fix it.

LIRR spokesman Sam Zambuto referred questions to the MTA, and Tim O'Brien, an MTA spokesman, said that agency does not comment on pending litigation.

(© 2006 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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