The MBTA held a meeting Monday morning to determine the fate of David Vazquez, the MBTA train operator who failed to secure the brake on the red line train that took off without a driver on Thursday.
MBTA general manager Frank DePaula described the meeting as "a finding of fact where all the different officers that have done investigations into the various facets of the incident will report them all through our labor relations office and a recommendation will be made."
DePaula says he expects some action and/or recommendation to come out of the hearing.
Secretary of Transportation, Stephanie Pollack, said there are two investigations from the red line incident. She said the first investigation, involving Vazquez, is a personnel issue and therefore confidential.
The second investigation, she said, also has two issues: one is whether operators are using the emergency bypass procedure, used when there are signal problems, more frequently than necessary.
She said, "another issue that has been raised, is if it is proven that the operator inappropriately secured the throttle in a way that was unsafe – is that something… that was being done commonly by the operators. And we don't know the answer to that."
Asked if she thinks Vazquez should be fired, Pollack said, "I want the action to be commensurate with the facts - and the fact finding investigation remains underway."
Massachusetts
The latest news from around the state
The President of the Carmen's Union, the union that represents transit workers, says a union representative attended the meeting, though Vasquez was not in attendance.
