{"id":361482,"date":"2026-10-01T03:32:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T03:32:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/361482\/"},"modified":"2026-10-01T03:32:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T03:32:14","slug":"subway-operator-who-killed-mta-worker-moet-mccullum-tried-to-stop-train-ntsb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/361482\/","title":{"rendered":"Subway operator who killed MTA worker Moet McCullum tried to stop train: NTSB"},"content":{"rendered":"

The subway operator who hit Moet McCullum<\/a> \u2014 a track worker and mother of three \u2014 while she was working on the tracks near the 161st St. D train station in the Bronx tried to stop the train, according to a preliminary report<\/a> from the National Transportation Safety Board released Wednesday.<\/p>\n

According to the NTSB\u2019s preliminary report, the train operator had the train up to about 28 mph when he \u201csaw workers on the track,\u201d and hit the train\u2019s emergency brake \u201ca few seconds before the accident\u201d on Sept. 3.<\/p>\n

While the rest of her crew \u201ccleared up\u201d to a safe location in the middle of the tunnel \u2014 between the Manhattan-bound track and an out-of-service center track \u2014 McCullum was alone, at the edge of the tunnel, near the benchwall when she was hit, the NTSB also noted.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll flaggers in the train\u2019s path, except one, reached a safe location,\u201d the report reads. \u201cThe employee who was fatally injured was positioned near the bench wall next to [the downtown track] at the time of the alert and did not reach a safe location.\u201d<\/p>\n

As first reported by the Daily News<\/a>, the operator of the Manhattan-bound D train that hit McCullum had been told there were workers on the track up ahead after pulling into the 167th St. station in Highbridge.<\/p>\n

Despite NYC Transit policy requiring him to continue on at \u201crestricted speeds\u201d of 10 mph or less until he reached the next station, the operator later told a supervisor that he ran the train at normal speeds when he didn\u2019t see any \u201cflagging lights\u201d warning him of workers up ahead.<\/p>\n

McCullum was in the process of setting those lights out when the train bore down upon her.<\/p>\n

\"MTA<\/p>\n

Courtesy of family<\/p>\n

MTA worker Moet McCullum was killed by a D train in the Bronx. (Courtesy of family)<\/p>\n

The brief NTSB initial report does not assign blame and largely confirms information already reported by this newspaper and others. But the few new details add to the tragedy of McCullum\u2019s death with less than a year on the job.<\/p>\n

As previously reported, another track worker saw the train coming as it rounded the curve into the 161st. St. station and blew a whistle to alert McCullum and others.<\/p>\n

According to an internal NYC Transit report reviewed by the Daily News, a supervisor who was on the tracks with the work crew reported that McCullum \u201cfroze\u201d after the whistle was blown.<\/p>\n

The NTSB investigation is ongoing, and a full report is expected upon its conclusion.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, NYC Transit has implemented a series of new rules for setting up worksites, requiring flaggers to ride subways into the tunnels in order to set up the first set of warning lights.<\/p>\n

\u201cLosing Moet McCullum was a lot for the entire team \u2014 we are a family,\u201d NYC Transit President Demetrius Crichlow, said Wednesday when asked about the ongoing investigation and ongoing efforts to improve track worker safety<\/a>. \u201cMoet\u2019s sister Monet is a flagger herself. We all feel that pain the same, whether its friends, family, we feel it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The subway operator who hit Moet McCullum \u2014 a track worker and mother of three \u2014 while she…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":361483,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,85,267,9,24,264,10,12,63,129,131,130,608],"class_list":["post-361482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-bronx","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-county","tag-new-york-news","tag-news","tag-nyc","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news","tag-transportation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=361482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361482\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/361483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=361482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=361482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=361482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}