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Bob Sullivan [...] said of the report: "Frankly, it's a disgrace. To put in, as the cause, alcohol and nothing else, is unbelievable."
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But that's what caused her death. Yes, she fell down under the train. If she'd stayed where she was, and not gone crawling around ON THE TRACKS, she'd most certainly have been fine. The gap where she fell had a STOPPED train on its tracks, and wasn't going to be moving immediately. They told her not to let go, but she crawled across a track, she got hit and died. Yes, it sucks, but she was drunk and didn't listen, and it cost her her life- that
is not the fault of the railroad company.
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Sullivan also questioned the New York City medical examiner's toxicology test cited in the report, which said Smead had a blood alcohol level of .23 percent. The blood-alcohol test was performed 90 minutes after Smead was struck by the train, according to the report. Smead received 9 pints of blood at Bellevue Hospital, Sullivan said. It is unclear whether the test was done before or after she received the blood.
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Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) is a percentage-based number, and
would not be affected if the patient LOST blood. If the patient had been GIVEN blood, that would only make the BAC
lower, not
higher... and 0.23% BAC is very high by itself... consider that a lot of states deem 0.08% "impaired" for the purposes of designating "driving under the influence". 0.23% would mess anyone up, let alone an 18 year old skinny enough to fall through a 7 7/8" gap.
I'd also point out the obvious fact that the legal drinking age in the US is 21, not 18.
"This certainly was a tragic and terrible accident and our heartfelt condolences go out to Ms. Smead's family..." Madison (Thomas Madison Jr., board chairman and commissioner of the state Department of Transportation) said.
"We can do everything in our power to make sure that a system is safe and reliable, but there is always that variable of personal responsibility that's involved in these circumstances."
YES!!! I'm so glad he articulated that point. There is that variable of personal responsibility- very well put.