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Almost three years ago, a teenager visiting from Minnesota fell through a 6-8 inch gap at the Woodside Long Island Rail Road station. Natalie Smead (pictured) tried crawling across the tracks and was fatally hit by an oncoming train. Now, Newsday reports that Smead's mother Susan Perry committed suicide: "On April 5, three days before the LIRR and Metropolitan Transportation Authority were to cut a $1.5 million check to settle the family's lawsuit over Smead's death, Perry, 50, killed herself in Minnesota, her family has disclosed." While the incident raised concerns about the huge gaps at many LIRR stations, an NTSB report recently blamed Smead's death on her alcohol level (here's the report PDF), noting she had a 0.23 blood alcohol level and that she failed to listen to instructions to stay still. Family and friends say that after her daughter's death, Perry, who used to run triathlons, became depressed and upset. Her family decided to speak out on Perry's death to "highlight the damage they feel was caused by the NTSB report."
Mother Of Teen Who Died In LIRR Gap Commits Suicide
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Those Mariachi guys piss me off when you enter a mostly silent subway car.
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Tragic.
May They Both rest In Peace
life is dangerous. suicide is dangerouser.
So sad. Could have happened to any of us.
Try to be responsible and not drink and drive, and you still have to drunkenly focus on the train/subways. So scary to think about how I've gotten home some nights when I didn't want to cab it.
Her family decided to speak out of Perry's death to "highlight the damage they feel was caused by the NTSB report."
The truth hurts. It was partially the girl's fault. Her BAC was very high, especially for someone that young who probably wasn't used to drinking. When you get wasted bad stuff can happen. That's just how it works.
On the other hand, the LIRR really needs to fix those crazy gaps. I don't have trouble navigating them, but I've seen people almost fall into them.
"On the other hand, the LIRR really needs to fix those crazy gaps."
I'm sure they're not all perfect, but a lot of progress has been made even over the past several months. Most of the doors now have extended thresholds and most platforms have been modified. I doubt there's anything nearly as big as that Woodside gap used to be still in place. Still, ridiculous that it took years of people being hurt and finally someone being killed before it was taken seriously.
Sad story.
But in terms of the "could happen to any of us," I know I could die in an accident. But it's a little less likely to happen to those of us who don't drink.
you are correct good sir. but i would contend that a life without alcohol is no life at all. to your health!
but i would contend that a life without alcohol is no life at all.
I assume you are joking.
No kidding. It's a truism.
This is tragic, but I'm sick of inebriation not being a reason for people getting injured and killed on train tracks.
I understand the family's pain and anger but do not agree that blaming an unbiased NTSB report is the way to go.
I remember this, she was drunk and an underaged teen drinking.
this wasn't an accident, she was drunk and fell down, then she crossed in front of an oncoming train. her stupidity drove her mom to helplessness - that's tragic.
A week ago at the 181st station in Manhattan, I saw a young man underneath a train car. He seems to have gotten there the same way as this girl, fell drunk on the tracks. Miraculously, the train went over him without hitting him.
Everybody was shouting at him to stay still but the moron would not listen. He actually crawled over two sets of third rails, to the dismay and shrieks from the crowd, and got to thew other side where people helped him up. He look totally spaced out and would not wait for medical personnel or the police.
I'm just glad for him and also for the rest of us that we did not witness a dismemberment or electrocution. However, the way he was going, he's going to get himself killed sooner or later.
What a weird thing so say:
Are triathletes naturally immune to depression following the death of a family member?No, but I think that they [triathletes] do traditionally show a fortitude of spirit and a positive outlook on challenges, so to go from being such a strong person to the disparity of suicide is journalistic method of showing the tragedy in this woman's life.
If the mother attempted suicide back in February, why didn't the family get counseling for her? The article says she was obsessing, reading every article about her daughter and reliving the accident with each one. That's not a healthy state of mind and somebody should have done an intervention.
"If the mother attempted suicide back in February, why didn't the family get counseling for her?"
How do you know they didn't?
Congrats to the MTA/LIRR on destroying yet another life and not giving a toss about it.
Plastering "Watch the Gap" signs all over the place doesn't absolve you of the years of worth of psychological damage and physical harm you have caused countless of other riders who were lucky to walk away still alive, albeit mangled or paralyzed.
What a tragic story. My condolences to the Smead/Perry family.
I'm not an MTA fan but any means, but in this case it was the girl fault. She was drunk and not paying attention.
To all those who say, But she was drunk! Yes, ok, and she was a teenager! Have a little compassion. You didn't get drunk and do something stupid when you were a teen??? If it didn't result in death or injury, consider yourself lucky. (I'm a little drunk...)
I have epilepsy. If I were having a partial seizure (most people around me don't even notice them) and got off the train only to encounter that gap, I'd probably fall through, too.
It's not just drunks.
This is so very sad.
Cast the first stone if you didn't narrowly escape death as a teenager.
The amount of underage drinking that goes on on the LIRR on weekend nights is shocking, even by NYC standards. Open containers all over the freaking place. It's like a bar car some nights. One wonders, how is it that the MTA has made such a big deal about banning and fining drinking non-alcoholic beverages (not to mention eating) on the subway, but they can't even be bothered to police normal laws on the LIRR? Could it be because most of the violators on the LIRR are privileged white folks? Hmmm.... (No offense meant to the victim here --- this is a criticism of the MTA, not her.)
OR could it be that its
LEGAL TO DRINK ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES (and food/ N.A. Beverages)
on the LIRR and Metro-North Trains and Station Platforms !!!!!!
and maybe the mta cracks down on drinkers and eaters on the subway because so many riders don't throw their trash away in proper receptacles and a majority of LIRR riders do.
This whole thing is tragic, but I don't think that blaming the NTSB for an honest report is the way to go here. Acknowledging that alcohol played a significant role in Ms. Smead's death does not, to my mind, diminish how sad that death was. The platforms are too far from the trains, and the girl had too much to drink: this is all true. I'm so sorry that her mother couldn't see any other way to cope with this other than suicide, but no responsibility for her death should be put on the NTSB or LIRR. Again, this is a case of a person exercising a choice that led to her death.
Getting wasted is dangerous, you might fuck your life off.
Yeah, public drunkeness might not be a good thing, but in a way it's good that these people are taking the train rather than trying to drive home.
Sad story.
yeah but after they ride the train most people drive their vehicles from the station to their home.
Jeez. Again, does nobody edit these posts? There should be a "was" before "fatally" and the "of" in the last sentence should be "on". And you call yourself an editor, Jen?
Thanks for your help.