Patrick Tuite on Tuesday rode the Red Line for the first time since he was injured in the line’s deadly crash less than one month ago.
He was on his way to attend a House subcommittee hearing on the June 22 Metro crash where he was to testify as a witness. He walked in an hour late.
“I left home at 12:37 and got here at 2:55,” Tuite said during his opening statement. “Please appreciate my frustration.”
The part of the trip between Forest Glen and Fort Totten took an hour and 20 minutes and should take nine minutes, he said.
“It was just a mess today,” he said after his testimony, which described his experiences the day of the crash.
Tuite has yet to be contacted by any Metro or National Transit Safety Board officials, he told The Washington Examiner.
Instead, he has received only medical bills from Holy Cross Hospital totaling about $130.
Tuite, 42, of Kensington, gave a vivid testimony of his experience the day he was in the second car of the train that crashed into the stopped train along the Red Line track.
Everything was normal, he said, until he was awakened from a doze by a screeching sound.
“Then, I heard one of the loudest bangs I’ve ever heard,” he said.
Tuite was thrown into the seat in front of him and was surrounded by dust and smoke.
He described the scene around the crash as “very confusing.”
Medical and law enforcement officials from various jurisdictions arrived, and Tuite continued to help others find medical assistance.
He only suffered a sore neck, he said.
He got home that night because an emergency medical technician told him he could ride shotgun in his ambulance.
After the hearing, Tuite said he didn’t trust Metro.
“I don’t trust them, but I will ride again.”
