Nov 21, 2008 8:48 pm US/Eastern
T Drivers Test Positive After Accidents
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
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Investigators at the scene of the accident at Boston College Station Nov. 17.
WBZ
Two MBTA trolley crew members involved in separate accidents in the past week have been suspended without pay after testing positive for drugs or alcohol.
Agency spokesman Joe Pesaturo said the crews were tested immediately after the incidents, and were suspended while the formal process of firing them is completed.
"While it's unfortunate that these two individuals actually did have drugs or alcohol in their system, the fact of the matter is our policy worked," said Dan Grabauskas, MBTA General Manager. "We caught them."
The two employees were caught after their trains crashed.
Routine tests after the accidents showed the operator of the train that crashed at the
Boylston Station last Friday and the rear car operator of the train that hit a 21-year-old
Boston College student Monday had drugs or alcohol in their systems. Their names were not released.
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority has not cited impairment as the cause of either accident, which remain under investigation.
"You do the best you can to catch people and to make sure there's a deterrent that people understand that they're going to blow an opportunity for a very good job here at the MBTA if they test positive for drugs or alcohol while they're on the job," Grabauskas said.
Both employees have been on the job for less than two years. Both have been randomly tested before and neither tested positive.
(© 2009 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 This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.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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