A total of 24 people were killed on Metro in 2009, the deadliest year by far in the agency’s history.
But that number was not what showed up in a new Metro report listing 23 deaths.
The tally, presented in a report to a board of directors committee, shows that 11 were killed on the rail system, another 11 used the rail system to kill themselves, and a pedestrian was fatally struck by a Metrobus.
However, the statistics do not include the death of a contractor who was electrocuted in a bus garage and incorrectly categorize the deaths of two riders who reportedly slipped onto the train tracks.
Spokeswoman Angela Gates confirmed that the report miscategorized two deaths as suicides when asked by The Examiner about a discrepancy from previously reported numbers. One of the deaths was ruled accidental, she said, but a second involving a blind man who fell from a Gallery Place platform has not formally been classified. Preliminary reports indicate he accidentally slipped, she said.
Spokeswoman Angela Gates confirmed that the report miscategorized two deaths as suicides when asked by The Examiner about a discrepancy from previously reported numbers. One of the deaths was ruled accidental, she said, but a second involving a blind man who fell from a Gallery Place platform has not formally been classified. Preliminary reports indicate he accidentally slipped, she said.
Metro’s 24-person death toll for 2009 included eight riders and one train operator killed in the June 22 train crash, two track worker deaths, the electrocution of a contractor, two accidental falls, a pedestrian struck by a Metrobus and nine suicides.
» March 15: Kevin Deiss, 22, was killed about 1:45 a.m. when he was struck by a train at East Falls Church station after he fell onto the tracks. The death was ruled an accident.
» June 22: A train crashed into a stopped train on the Red Line, killing a train operator and eight riders. Dozens more were injured.
» Aug. 9: Track spotter Michael Nash, a 21-year Metro veteran, was killed when he was hit by a machine spreading gravel near the Vienna/Fairfax-GMU Metro station.
» Aug. 18: A subcontractor, Steven Troy Griffith, 30, was electrocuted while fixing equipment at the Bladensburg Metrobus garage in Northeast D.C.
» Sept. 10: Metro communications technician John Moore, 44, was struck by a train while working on the Blue Line near the Braddock Road stop. He died four days later.
» Oct. 6: D.C. resident Stephanie Richardson, 47, died less than a day after she was hit by a Metrobus while crossing a street in Northeast D.C.
» Dec. 27: A blind man fell from the Gallery Place platform, later dying of his injuries. Metro declined to release his name.
The electrocution did not fit into categories listed in the safety report, she said.
The death toll also does not include a 33-year-old Lorton man whose body was found in June in the Franconia-Springfield Metrorail station bathroom. Foul play was not suspected, nor did it appear Metro was involved in the death, so The Examiner is not including it in the tally.
The June 22 train crash, the worst crash in Metro’s history, caused nine of the deaths. But even beyond that accident, the agency had more fatalities than usual, driven by three worker deaths and an epidemic of suicides on the system that usually has a couple of cases each year.
The high death tally — and safety missteps — helped prompt General Manager John Catoe to submit his resignation, effective April 2. He had joined Metro in 2007 with a platform pushing safety.
This year is already off to a deadly start, having had one suicide last month plus Tuesday’s deaths of two track workers.
