William Rockefeller, the man in charge when a Metro-North train derailed, killing four people and injuring dozens more, may not have committed a crime, despite reportedly dozing off while hitting 82 miles per hour going into a 30-miles-per-hour turn zone. “Falling asleep, by itself, is fundamentally not a crime, not even for a motorman driving a train,” a law-enforcement source told DNA Info’s Murray Weiss. “There was nothing mitigating here. He was not drunk, on the phone, or out partying the night before, and he went to sleep at a reasonable hour.” A toxicology report remains outstanding, but police aren’t expecting anything.
Rockefeller is “devastated” by the crash, his lawyer said. “He is just very, very sad and his heart goes to the passengers and their families.”
