Criminal Investigation Launched For MBTA Crash That Left 27 Hurt

BOSTON — On her last week before becoming the U.S. Attorney of Massachusetts, U.S. District Attorney Rachael Rollins launched a criminal investigation into the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority after a Green Line crash injured 27 passengers last summer.

Last fall, trolley operator Owen Turner, 50, of Boston was charged with negligence in connection to the July 30, 2021, Green Line crash.

Federal investigators say one train was going 30 miles per hour and crashed into another going the speed limit of 10 miles per hour, more than 3 times the speed limit on Commonwealth Ave., near the Agganis Arena.

Investigators say Turner shifted the train's master controller into the "full-power position" moments before the collision.

Prosecutors said Turner was interviewed by transit police three times, and he gave inconsistent statements that contradicted surveillance video and what he told investigators.

"Mr. Owen was operating at three times the speed limit at the time of the crash. As his colleagues and supervisors were aware, he had a reputation for speeding and a history of violations," Rollins said in a statement. "The MBTA had a duty to address its employee's reckless behavior. The agency failed to fulfill its legal obligation to take meaningful action in light of the real safety risk these acts created. We will be looking into whether the T's behavior or lack thereof, merits criminal action."

Turner appeared in Brighton Municipal Court in October and pleaded not guilty to gross negligence of a person in control of a train and to gross negligence of a person having care of a common carrier.

24 passengers and 3 crew members were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries.

A safe system already implemented on the MBTA's Commuter rail, Red, Orange, and Blue Lines will start being installed next year and is expected to be online for the Green Line in 2024.