No criminal charges in fatal MBTA wreck

DA says Green Line operator wasn’t using cell phone during collision

The MBTA operator killed in last month’s Green Line trolley collision was not using a cell phone at the time, according to the Middlesex District Attorney’s office, which yesterday announced no criminal charges will be filed in the incident.

Rumors had spread that 24-year-old Terrese Edmonds was seen by passengers using her cell phone prior to the crash. But authorities yesterday dispelled that theory, claiming they recovered her cell phone at the scene and were legally granted access to her phone history, while also speaking with witnesses.

“There is no evidence that she was in communication with anyone on her cell phone — whether through phone calls, text messages, or e-mail — in the time immediately leading up to the crash,” read a statement from Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone’s office.

Authorities also found no evidence of unlawful conduct by Edmonds or other passengers and closed the case.

With the district attorney’s ruling out the distraction of a cell phone as the cause of the crash, many questions remain about what led to the fatal incident.

The National Transportation Safety Board is leading its own investigation since the May 28 crash, in which one D branch trolley slammed into another just before Woodland station in Newton during the evening rush-hour commute, killing Edmonds, the second trolley’s operator.

The NTSB has found the second trolley was traveling nearly four times faster than it should have been, that Edmonds’ view to the signals was not impaired and that Edmonds never hit the brakes. 

The state medical examiner’s preliminary exam also determined Edmonds didn’t have alcohol or other drugs in the her system at the time of the crash, according to authorities.