HUMAN PERFORMANCE FACTORS Attachment 1-Narrative/Transcripts of Investigative Interviews Valhalla, NY DCA15MR006 (29 pages) 1 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Investigation of: * * METRO-NORTH RAILROAD FATAL TRAIN * CRASH, VALHALLA, NEW YORK * Docket No. : FEBRUARY 3, 2015 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Interview of: DCA-15-MR-006 ALAN BRODY White Plains, New York Thursday, April 2, 2015 The above-captioned matter convened, pursuant to notice. BEFORE: KENNETH BRAGG Human Performance Investigator Free State Reporting, Inc. ( 410) 974-0947 2 APPEARANCES: KENNETH BRAGG, Human Performance Investigator Office of Highway Safety National Transportation Safety Board ROBERT ACCETTA, Investigator-in-Charge Office of Highway Safety National Transportation Safety Board RICHARD GREEN, Chief Inspector Federal Railroad Administration JOHN RIZZITELLI, Detective Sergeant MTA Police SEAN CONNOLLY, Detective MTA Police RICHARD OLESON, Esq. ( Attorney on behalf of Mr. Brody) Free State Reporting, Inc. ( 410) 974-0947 3 I N D E X ITEM PAGE Interview of Alan Brody: By Mr. Bragg 5 By Mr. Accetta 25 By Mr. Green 27 Free State Reporting, Inc. ( 410) 974-0947 4 1 I N T E R V I E W 2 3 ( 11: 17 a. m. ) MR. BRAGG: Okay, today is Thursday, April 2nd, 2015. 4 It' s approximately 11: 17 a. m. My name is Kenneth Bragg, human 5 performance investigator with the National Transportation Safety 6 Board. 7 And why don' t we start off by going around to my right. 8 Everyone state your name and your organization for the record. 9 MR. GREEN: My name is Richard Green. I' m chief 10 inspector for the Federal Railroad Administration located here in 11 Region 1, and we are the regulatory agency for the railroads in 12 Region 1, Metro-North being one of them. And I was the inspector- 13 in-charge for the accident for the agency. 14 MR. ACCETTA: I' m Robert Accetta. I' m the investigator- 15 in-charge for the Office of Highway Safety in this investigation. 16 I' m located out of the Dallas/Fort Worth area in Texas and report 17 quite often to headquarters in Washington, D. C. 18 DET. SGT. RIZZITELLI: John Rizzitelli, detective 19 sergeant with the MTA police, one of the supervisors in charge of 20 the accident investigation. 21 DET. CONNOLLY: Detective Sean Connolly, MTA police, and 22 I was assigned as the lead investigator for the MTA police part of 23 this investigation. 24 MR. OLESON: And my name is Richard Oleson. I' m an 25 attorney admitted in the state of New York, and I' m representing Free State Reporting, Inc. ( 410) 974-0947 5 1 Mr. Brody and the Brody family regarding this matter. 2 INTERVIEW OF ALAN BRODY 3 4 BY MR. BRAGG: Q. Mr. Brody, I' ll start off. Why don' t you talk a little 5 bit about your interaction with your wife on the day of the crash? 6 A. 7 Yeah, I called her at 6: 11. MR. OLESON: Why don' t you -- if I may, just let him ask 8 you some questions. 9 MR. BRODY: 10 11 Oh. Sure, go ahead. BY MR. BRAGG: Q. Okay, so -- and I was going to ask you eventually about 12 that phone call. Let' s go ahead and start there. According to 13 her phone records you called her at 6: 11. 14 A. Correct. 15 Q. And the phone call ended about 6: 20 p. m. ; is that right? 16 A. Right. 17 Q. And is your phone number 914-484-1401? 18 A. Correct. 19 Q. Okay. 20 A. She had given me a couple of bills to pay. So what was that phone call about? 21 Costco in Yonkers, Ridge Hill. 22 wanted me to pay the bill. I was at I called her to verify that she One was a Cablevision bill that seemed 23 unusually high and the other one -- I don' t remember what the 24 other one was. 25 want to pay? But it was, are you sure this is the amount you Yes, yes, yes. And then I confirmed with her the Free State Reporting, Inc. ( 410) 974-0947 6 1 directions to go to meet a new client in Scarsdale. She normally 2 goes down the Saw Mill and then takes the Sprain interchange, 3 Sprain Valley Road interchange. 4 And I indicated to her, hey, you know, best way to get 5 to Scarsdale is to go just like you' re going to Sprain, but as 6 you' re about to get onto Sprain you will see a sign saying Bronx 7 River Parkway. You take that exit. 8 take you to Exit 12. That Bronx River Parkway will It will deposit you in Scarsdale right by 9 the Starbucks where you will meet this prospective client. 10 it. And the phone died. 11 Q. That' s It just fizzled at 6: 20. Was it your phone or hers? Oh, you don' t know? You 12 don' t know? 13 MR. OLESON: You have to -- just speak, because they' re 14 recording. 15 MR. BRODY: 16 MR. OLESON: 17 BY MR. BRAGG: 18 Q. Oh, I don' t know. I don' t know. Okay. Was there anything unusual about that phone call? 19 I' m speaking with respect to her demeanor. And Did she seem upset? 20 Did she seem irritated? 21 A. No, not at all. She was in good spirits. The woman she 22 was about to meet was not only a prospective client, but they had 23 established some type of relationship over the phone. 24 market her business so I know. I help And this was their first meeting, 25 but they had spent time on the phone; they had become friendly. Free State Reporting, Inc. ( 410) 974-0947 7 1 So this was not a competitive or, you know, high tense, you know, 2 am I going to get his business. 3 friendly. She got the business. They were She was looking forward to making a new friend. And so 4 she was in as good of spirits as you' d expect. 5 Q. And describe the business model that your wife has. 6 A. She' s a bookkeeping consultant. 7 Q. Okay. And when she was on the way to meet this 8 prospective client, where was she coming from? 9 A. So she was coming from Chappaqua, heading south. 10 Q. And what' s in Chappaqua, is that her -- 11 A. She has a part-time job at a jewelry store. 12 Q. And how often does she work? 13 A. She works there twice a week. 14 Q. Twice a week? 15 A. Works there twice a week. 16 Q. How many days -- or how many hours per day? 17 A. She would come in at -- I think about 10. 18 Q. A. M. ? 19 A. 10 a. m. , and then she' d leave at 6. So that' s an 8-hour 20 day. 21 Q. And so this was her routine that day? 22 A. This is her routine that day, correct. Except instead 23 of coming home, she was heading to -- on a different highway. 24 Q. And when she went to work that morning at 10, did she 25 leave directly from home and arrive -- Free State Reporting, Inc. ( 410) 974-0947 8 1 A. Correct. 2 Q. -- at the business? 3 A. Correct. 4 Q. And what time would she have left from home? 5 A. She would have left about 9: 30, somewhere around there, 6 9: 45. I can' t remember exactly, but in that time frame. 7 Q. And what time did she get up that morning? 8 A. Probably around 9. I mean, I usually make coffee in the 9 morning for her, so I would say somewhere between -- I take the 10 kids to school at 8. I get back at 8: 30. I make coffee. So 11 somewhere about 8: 45, somewhere around there, 9: 00. 12 Q. And what was your mood that morning? 13 A. Mood was fine. My eldest daughter began a new job. 14 was very happy about that. She Considering that she just graduated 15 from college, it' s her first job, yeah, she was pretty pleased 16 about that. 17 Q. Look, everything about it was A-1, okay? Yeah. And understand, we ask these specific 18 questions -19 A. No, that' s okay. It' s fine. I' m just -- 20 Q. -- just so we can eliminate speculation, so -- 21 A. Go ahead. 22 Q. What time did she go to bed the night before? 23 A. Probably around midnight. 24 Q. Around midnight? 25 A. I mean, we' re -- you know, maybe -- she got a 7-hour I' m just -- Free State Reporting, Inc. ( 410) 974-0947 9 1 sleep because I' m the one that gets up at 7; I' m the one that 2 takes the kids to school. 3 to do these things. I have my own business and so I' m free And in return, I, you know, try to serve her, 4 let her sleep a little later than necessary, bring her a cup of 5 coffee. 6 Q. I mean, that' s -- that was ideal. Okay. And that day, that Monday, did she work that day? 7 Or what did she do that day? 8 A. You mean the day before? 9 Q. Yeah, Monday. 10 A. Honestly, I don' t recall. 11 thing. She probably did her own She did not -- didn' t work at the jewelry store. 12 Q. Okay. 13 A. So just so you understand, the jewelry is not exactly a 14 high pressure business. It' s a little store. 15 Q. Sure. 16 A. I think they have a few customers a day. Most of the 17 time it was schmoozing with the ladies that she -- she had friends 18 all over town, okay. 19 Q. Yeah. 20 A. She did some bookkeeping work for them. 21 that job as a way to stay friendly with the locals. But she had That' s pretty 22 much -23 Q. Okay. And what I' m asking, I' m just trying to get some 24 idea of what she did the days prior to it, so -25 A. Yeah. I got it. So the day before she would have been Free State Reporting, Inc. ( 410) 974-0947 10 1 doing the bookkeeping consulting with her regular batch of 2 clients. 3 Q. What was that -- was that done at -- from home? 4 A. From home. Basically it' s QuickBooks. It' s a lot of 5 entry, coding payments and going over their bills and what have 6 you. It' s not -- what I' m trying to point out to you, that is 7 very much paperwork. The jewelry store is people work. And she 8 enjoyed the balance. 9 Q. Okay. And what time would she had gotten out of bed on 10 Monday morning? 11 A. You know, same thing. I mean, I made her coffee at 12 8: 45, 9: 00, if I was running late. But I don' t -- you know, I let 13 her stay in. 14 Q. And how about Sunday, what was Sunday like? 15 A. Okay, Sunday just the opposite. 16 bed first. She' s the one out of She goes to the gym. 17 Q. About what time is that? 18 A. 9: 00. 19 Q. Okay. 20 A. So she leaves 8: 45. She goes to this ladies' gym. I' m 21 not allowed to go in there so I don' t know what happens there 22 except that they dance around a lot. 23 she does zumba from 9 to 10. They do zumba. All right, I' m barely up by the time she -- I' m 24 barely waking up by the time she returns. I don' t get to do my 25 jog until the afternoon, so -- Free State Reporting, Inc. ( 410) 974-0947 11 1 Q. So when she went to the gym, she came home what time? 2 A. Maybe 2: 00. 3 mall. So after -- the gym happens to be near a So the price of her getting to go to the gym early was, you 4 know, a visit to the mall. 5 Q. Okay. And then after the mall she came home? 6 A. She would come home. She would -- yeah, about 1; 1: 00, 7 somewhere around there. 8 Q. What time did she go to bed on Sunday? 9 A. You know, probably around midnight. 10 Q. And she normally stays up pretty late, then? 11 A. Yeah, we' re late birds. 12 Q. Yeah. 13 A. I' m the one -- I work on 5-hour sleeps. 14 up late and get up early, which is my routine. So I could stay I let her sleep 15 in. 16 Q. So what would she be doing? Watching TV? Relaxing? 17 A. TV, she' d be working on her -- you know, a lot of the 18 stuff that she did was stuff that you could do while watching TV. 19 So she' d go into the office. 20 business. Honestly, it' s not my kind of I didn' t pay a whole bunch of attention to what she 21 actually did with the clients. All I know she had them and she 22 did what she did. 23 Q. And how young was the youngest, your youngest daughter? 24 A. Sixteen. 25 Q. She' s 16. So she doesn' t need a lot of child care with Free State Reporting, Inc. ( 410) 974-0947 12 1 that, I mean, just -2 A. No. 3 Q. Yeah, okay. I' m just trying to understand. 4 a little bit about her driving experience. Let' s talk How long has she been 5 licensed? 6 A. Since she was 17, I guess. 7 Q. When she was 17? 8 A. Yeah. 9 Q. And did you know her at that time? 10 A. No. 11 Q. Okay. I met her when she was 24. Have you ever known her to have a license in 12 another state? 13 A. No. 14 Q. And what type of driver was she? 15 A. She' s a very cautious driver. 16 Q. Very cautious driver? 17 A. Yeah. 18 Q. What type of experience does she have with rail grade Was she a good driver? 19 crossings? 20 A. None. 21 Q. None? 22 A. There' s no railroad crossings where we live; it' s 23 bridges. 24 Q. So she doesn' t normally -- and I' m just asking to 25 clarify. Free State Reporting, Inc. ( 410) 974-0947 13 1 A. No, I understand. 2 Q. She doesn' t typically -- 3 A. No. 4 Q. -- encounter any on her daily commute? 5 A. No. 6 Q. Okay. Have you guys ever had any discussions about rail 7 grade crossings before? 8 A. No. 9 Q. No. I' m just saying, no. I mean -- What about prior traffic accidents? She ever had 10 an accident before? 11 A. She had a few. I mean, she had -- I mean, it' s small, 12 you know, like fender bender type things. Somebody -- she was 13 backing out, I think she hit some guy coming out. Another 14 accident she had -- I mean, nothing of any serious note. 15 Q. Okay. How about traffic tickets? 16 A. Yeah, she had a few. 17 Q. All right. 18 A. I don' t know what she had lately, but, you know, she' s 19 had a few. 20 Q. What' s the last one you remember and what was it for? 21 A. The last one -- I can' t remember. 22 Q. Do you remember what it was for? 23 A. No. I mean, it might have been something in town, a 24 turn -- maybe a wrong turn, or it could have been speeding, but I 25 don' t recall. Free State Reporting, Inc. ( 410) 974-0947 14 1 Q. Okay. And so the area where the accident occurred, 2 she' s not -- she wasn' t familiar with that; is that what you said? 3 A. No, never. 4 Q. Never? 5 A. No. 6 Q. All right. 7 A. It' s an obscure part of the countryside. 8 there, but she' s never been there. 9 find it. I' ve been She' s never -- she couldn' t I mean, this is not a person that goes venturing around. 10 Q. Okay. 11 A. Okay. The answer is she' s never been there. 12 never seen it before, but I have. She' s And I couldn' t even find it 13 when I went back to take a look at this place. It took me a while 14 to actually locate it, even though I had been there before. So 15 the answer' s no. 16 Q. And so when she goes somewhere that' s unfamiliar, how 17 would she navigate? 18 A. She usually calls me. 19 Q. She usually calls you? 20 A. Yeah. 21 Q. So how about a GPS device or smartphone? 22 A. Yeah, she has a GPS device. 23 Q. In the car? 24 A. Well, there' s one in the car, yeah. 25 is complicated. The one that' s built into the car? The one in the car She' d probably use -- with this particular Free State Reporting, Inc. ( 410) 974-0947 15 1 instance, I don' t know that she had the GPS on because it' s not a 2 complicated thing, is that you take this turn and then you' re at 3 Exit 12 and you' re in Scarsdale. It' s not -- the way she was 4 planning to go was -- it' s not her common route, but it' s not 5 widely out of the scope of where she would go. 6 up, that' s a different story. Where she ended But I' m saying that -- so but the 7 answer' s I don' t know. 8 Q. Okay. And when you talked to her before the crash, did 9 she say anything about the traffic conditions? I mean, was she -- 10 A. No. 11 Q. No? Nothing? 12 A. No. There was no indication whatsoever. 13 Q. Okay. 14 A. It was good. What was her health like? I mean, she gets up at 9 a. m. on a Sunday 15 morning to do zumba for an hour. 16 Q. How about her vision? 17 A. Her vision' s good. That' s pretty darn good. She wears contact lenses and 18 prescription -- I mean, contact lenses by definition are 19 prescription. You know, she has corrective lenses. 20 Q. When was the last time she' s been to an eye doctor? 21 A. I don' t know. 22 Q. Don' t know. When was the last time she had her 23 prescription updated? 24 A. I mean, I don' t know. 25 Q. How about her hearing? The answer is I don' t know. Any -- Free State Reporting, Inc. ( 410) 974-0947 16 1 A. Her hearing is excellent. 2 Q. Hearing is excellent? 3 A. Oh, yeah. 4 Q. She could overhear you all the time? 5 A. You got it. 6 Q. Was she taking any medication? 7 A. You know, she had this thing called Hashimoto' s 8 syndrome. It' s a thyroid condition after childbirth. 9 common apparently among women. It' s very I don' t recall what she took. I 10 don' t remember, you know, what the medication is, but she' s been 11 taking it since the first -- birth of the first. So maybe 15, 20 12 years, she' s been taking this thyroid medication. 13 don' t take it, apparently your energy' s down. And just if you If you do take it, 14 your energy' s normal, so -15 Q. And did she complain about this in the days leading up 16 to the accident? 17 A. No. 18 Q. No. 19 A. You know, she had a regular physician. Where did she go to the doctor at? 20 ran all that stuff. You know, she I have no idea. 21 Q. Do you know his name? 22 A. She might -- Dr. Kubersky might have treated her. 23 That' s my doctor. 24 Q. Okay. 25 A. I think she used him too, but I' m not sure. Free State Reporting, Inc. ( 410) 974-0947 17 1 Q. And what' s his first name? 2 A. I have no idea. 3 Q. Doctor. 4 A. Yonkers, Ridge Hill. 5 Q. Okay. 6 A. It' s Blue Cross. 7 Q. Blue Cross? 8 A. Yeah. 9 Q. Has she recently undergone any life-changing events? Okay. Doctor. And what town is he in? And who' s your health insurance? 10 Anything which -11 A. No, I mean, look, she' s 49. 12 49. She' s in great shape. 13 in good mental condition. You know, she' s a woman of She was in excellent shape. She was She had embarked on a -- we jointly had 14 developed this career path for her. She was an independent 15 consultant and she had grown her client base well. She was -- was 16 in good shape. 17 Q. Was she stressed about anything? 18 A. No. 19 Q. All right, and please don' t be offended by these 20 questions, but -21 A. Yeah. 22 Q. -- you know, I don' t know, and I wasn' t blessed to know 23 your wife. But has she ever had any mental or psychological 24 disorders? 25 A. No. No, she has nothing -- no. Free State Reporting, Inc. ( 410) 974-0947 18 1 Q. How about any struggles with drugs or alcohol? 2 A. No. 3 Q. No. 4 A. No. 5 Q. Does she drink alcohol? 6 A. Yeah, she drinks. 7 Q. Describe her alcohol use. 8 A. You know, we' d have some wine occasionally with dinner. 9 We might go -- I don' t know what we did that weekend before. 10 might go out and have a few drinks. We But there' s no -- I' m not 11 aware of any drinking issues. 12 Q. Okay. Now, let' s talk a little bit about the vehicle. 13 And the indication that I have is that she bought the vehicle in 14 December of 2014. 15 A. Right, I bought it. 16 Q. You bought it. 17 A. Yeah. 18 Q. Why' d you buy it? 19 A. What' s that? 20 Q. Why did you buy it? 21 A. Why did I buy it? 22 Q. Was it to replace a vehicle? Just you needed 23 something -24 A. Yeah. No, I bought it because our other vehicles are 25 aging. Free State Reporting, Inc. ( 410) 974-0947 19 1 Q. Okay. 2 A. So, you know, it took me a while to find a vehicle that 3 we' re happy with. 4 used car. She -- and she was happy with this. It' s a 2011, ML350. 5 40, 000 miles. It' s a It' s in excellent condition, We had it checked out. I bought it from a, you 6 know, an executive, a technology executive. So it' s not the kind 7 of guy that drove it any particular way. 8 Q. You bought it from a private party? 9 A. Private party. 10 Q. Was this primarily her car? 11 A. This was primarily her car, correct. 12 Q. Did anyone else drive it all? 13 A. Yeah, I drove it. 14 Q. Okay. 15 A. On occasion. And she liked the car. And it' s -- Daily, or just like on occasion? I mean -- well, actually that' s not true. 16 I would take the kids to school in that car. So I would drive the 17 kids to school -- I liked driving that car -- bring it home, and 18 then she would take it to work if she was going to work that day. 19 Q. Okay. What was her opinion of the car? What was her 20 opinion of the car? 21 A. She liked the car. I guess her main complaint was 22 there' s no place to put her purse. 23 Q. She complained nothing about the operation, or -- 24 A. No, the operation of the car is -- it' s a very simple 25 car to operate. It' s not like a regular -- it doesn' t have PRNDL. Free State Reporting, Inc. ( 410) 974-0947 20 1 You want to go forward, you push the gear down; you want to go 2 backwards, you push the gear up. 3 Q. Did she ever describe having any issues getting used to 4 that, or -5 A. No, never. 6 Q. Is that her first Mercedes Benz? 7 A. Yeah. 8 Q. It was? 9 A. Honda. 10 Q. Honda? What kind of car did she have prior? Describe her use with the radio, the car radio. 11 Did she use that? 12 A. Well, we have satellite radio, so she would -- I think 13 her favorite channel was -- I forget what it is -- Café or 14 something. She put on Café, listened to that. But if she was 15 talking to me, then of course it has Bluetooth, so it would take 16 over the radio. 17 Q. Okay. 18 A. I mean, I don' t know -- 19 Q. So she typically communicated through the Bluetooth? 20 A. You can' t help it. The one thing about that car is you 21 get in that car, as long as you have your phone programmed, it 22 knows the phone is there, and it' s got the voice of God. 23 no mistaking that thing. There' s Your conversation is well heard and 24 listened to. 25 Q. I remember going down the road one day and I just Free State Reporting, Inc. ( 410) 974-0947 21 1 happened to pull up next to my wife. And I look at my wife, and 2 she' s in the car and she' s singing for all she' s worth. And I was 3 thankful that I couldn' t hear it because she can' t sing. But is 4 that something -5 A. Well, that wouldn' t be my wife. 6 can' t sing and she wouldn' t sing. My wife -- well, she So that goodness for that, 7 yeah. 8 Q. But did she enjoy music on the radio? 9 A. You know what, I don' t know. The answer is she enjoyed 10 listening to it, whether it was music or the comedy thing or 11 whatever it was. She also listened to books. 12 the CD on with a book. She might have put I really don' t know. 13 Q. What was her favorite thing she liked about the car? 14 A. Well, I mean, you know, it' s a safe car. 15 safe car. I bought her a I mean, there was storms around that time, so that' s 16 the kind of car you want in a stormy situation. 17 forget what it is -- the blind spot warnings. It had the -- I It had the whole -- 18 basically the car had like everything you want out of a Mercedes. 19 It had everything. 20 warnings. It had the roof. It had the perimeter So, you know, it was a great car. And it' s an SUV, so 21 it' s higher up than her previous car, but she never complained 22 about driving, anyway, that I know of. 23 Q. Have you ever ridden in a car when she' s driving it? 24 A. Yeah. 25 Q. Anything abnormal about that experience? Free State Reporting, Inc. ( 410) 974-0947 22 1 A. She drives responsibly, I mean, you know. 2 once upon a time made my living as a driver. 3 a professional driver. You know, I So, you know, I was And she' s just very cautious and takes it 4 -- you know, it' s not the way I drive. 5 Q. Now, I' m not sure about your understanding of what 6 happened at the crossing. What are your thoughts about what 7 happened at the crossing? Have you come up with any potential 8 scenarios or -9 MR. OLESON: 10 MR. BRAGG: 11 MR. OLESON: 12 MR. BRAGG: 13 MR. OLESON: You want him to speculate what went on? Yes. I mean, he can -And I understand, it' s just that -Listen, you can ask any questions you want. 14 I just don' t really know what the purpose of that is. 15 can speculate. You can speculate. I mean, I Certainly you can ask him any 16 factual questions. 17 MR. BRAGG: Well, the reason I was going to ask him to 18 speculate, because he knows his wife better than anybody in this 19 room. 20 MR. OLESON: 21 MR. BRAGG: Yeah. And sometimes that knowledge, that personal 22 knowledge of his wife' s behavior and habits would give him a good 23 perspective of what may have happened, so -24 MR. OLESON: Well, I don' t know what it' s worth, but if 25 you want to ask him, go ahead. Free State Reporting, Inc. ( 410) 974-0947 23 1 MR. BRODY: Well, I' ll tell you what. 2 speculation -- let me just frame it this way. If you want my So I grew up in a 3 time where every kid, every boy that I knew had a train set, me 4 too. Okay? 5 train. My first job out of high school was a conductor on a It wasn' t here; it was in Africa. 6 than the average person does. Okay. So I know more I worked on a train. I had a 7 little cap, waistcoat, the clipper, all that, whistle. 8 slowed down for railroad crossings. 9 And we Okay, we didn' t trust them. And those railroad crossings don' t look too different 10 from the ones that I saw. And that area that I drove through 11 didn' t look that different from Amanzimtoti or Isipingo, or any of 12 the crossings that I went through, okay, except here they go 60 13 miles an hour. So if you ask my opinion, that whole crossing 14 could have been transplanted to KwaZulu Natal just the way it is 15 right now, except we didn' t have a 182 trains going through. So 16 that' s my opinion. 17 BY MR. BRAGG: 18 Q. Okay. 19 A. Now, if you ask me about those signs there, I can tell 20 you this much. 21 had trains. I know those signs because I worked on them. My wife didn' t grow up with trains. 22 woman or girl who ever did. I don' t know any I don' t know too many kids born since 23 1990 that did either, because they play videogames. 24 interested in trains. I They' re not Trains go around and around and around. 25 That' s not interesting to young people, okay. So all this stuff Free State Reporting, Inc. ( 410) 974-0947 24 1 in the law and all this that' s associated with trains belongs in a 2 different generation, a different time. It' s a relic from the 3 past. 4 You want to know what I think? I don' t think any of 5 those signs make any sense to anybody who doesn' t have my 6 background or doesn' t live in the neighborhood. Somebody who just 7 came out of the blue -- she had no idea that there was a railroad 8 crossing there. And the circumstances that occurred that 9 particular -- I was there that night. There was snow everywhere. 10 Obviously she didn' t know she was sitting on a railroad crossing. 11 I mean, even the idiot behind her, it didn' t seem to dawn on him 12 that she wasn' t aware that she was on a railroad crossing. So you 13 want my opinion, there' s my opinion. 14 Q. All right. 15 A. And if you -- and by the way, I have background in 16 packaging research. I guarantee you that you have never done 17 perception research on any of those signs. I guarantee you. I 18 guarantee there' s more money spent -19 MR. OLESON: 20 MR. BRODY: 21 there' s my opinion. Al, Al, just calm down. All right. I mean, if you ask my opinion, There' s a guy at PepsiCo right now doing more 22 package research -- actually, I was in Dallas, so -- on Doritos, 23 they have more knowledge on how you perceive Doritos on the 24 supermarket shelf than anybody has bothered to think about 25 driving. If you want -- that' s my opinion. You can take it for Free State Reporting, Inc. ( 410) 974-0947 25 1 what it' s worth, but there' s my opinion. 2 MR. BRAGG: Well, I mean, I asked. Yeah, I did. And I 3 appreciate it. 4 MR. BRODY: 5 know something. 6 Since you asked, and like I said, I actually So there you go. MR. OLESON: All right. Write it down. It' s obviously an emotional 7 situation. 8 MR. BRAGG: Oh, I understand. I would be -- 9 MR. BRODY: I mean -- 10 MR. OLESON: 11 MR. BRODY: 12 MR. OLESON: 13 MR. BRODY: Yeah. 14 MR. BRAGG: Now I' m going to ask these gentlemen on this So I apologize for anything. No, I' m good. But Alan -- I' m good. -- you' re fine. Just calm down. 15 side of the table, any follow-up questions you guys would like to 16 ask? 17 MR. ACCETTA: I have a couple that may lead to more 18 because I' m not familiar with the roadways around there. 19 20 BY MR. ACCETTA: Q. The directions that she -- or you had given her to get 21 to this client, how -- that' s the Taconic Parkway right there? 22 A. It' s called the Taconic Parkway Extension. 23 Q. Okay. 24 A. Commonly known to us as the Bronx River Parkway. 25 Q. Okay. So when you were giving her directions, she -- Free State Reporting, Inc. ( 410) 974-0947 26 1 A. It' s the same thing. 2 Q. Same thing. 3 A. Right. 4 Q. Okay, all right. It has two names. So she would have been going 5 northbound? 6 A. 7 here. She was heading southbound. I understand your confusion And, believe me, I was just as confused. How she ended up 8 going southbound to basically heading northeast is a mystery that 9 I cannot explain to you, other than we do know there was an 10 accident prior that she was directed off of the highway. 11 the best that we know. That' s Somebody -- police, I believe police woman 12 -- it may be the same woman, for all I know, that I saw when I 13 showed up at 10: 30 that night looking for her -- took her off the 14 highway -15 MR. OLESON: 16 MR. BRODY: 17 MR. ACCETTA: 18 MR. OLESON: 19 BY MR. ACCETTA: 20 Q. Alan -But we don' t know that. Right. You weren' t there. But she was going -- she was originally going 21 southbound? 22 A. Correct. 23 Q. Okay, I had it in my mind the impression that she was 24 going northbound, but she was going southbound. 25 A. She was -- right. She was supposedly heading south. Free State Reporting, Inc. ( 410) 974-0947 27 1 How she ended up there we don' t know. 2 theories. But I don' t know. There were a couple of Within those 4 minutes, she was 3 redirected in some fashion. 4 Q. All right, okay. Then that eliminates some of the other 5 questions I had, because she was going southbound. 6 7 All right. BY MR. GREEN: Q. I just had a quick question. Obviously you knew her. 8 How long were you married? 9 A. Twenty-four years. 10 Q. Okay. When she was confronted with an issue or 11 something out of the ordinary, did she react calmly or was she 12 prone to being excited? 13 A. Generally speaking, she behaved calmly. 14 Q. Okay. 15 A. Look, she' s not a contemplative person. Yeah. So that was her nature? I mean, she' s a 16 person that did what appeared to her at the time to be the right 17 thing to do, you know. 18 Q. Yeah. 19 A. If she thought that' s what she was supposed to do, she 20 would do. 21 Q. Okay. That' s all I had. 22 MR. BRAGG: Okay? All right, thank you. 23 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: All right, thank you. 24 25 Free State Reporting, Inc. ( 410) 974-0947 CERTIFICATE This is to certify that the attached proceeding before the NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD IN THE MATTER OF: METRO-NORTH RAILROAD FATAL TRAIN CRASH, VALHALLA, NEW YORK FEBRUARY 3, 2015 Interview of Alan Brody DOCKET NUMBER: DCA-15-MR-006 PLACE: White Plains, New York DATE: April 2, 2015 was held according to the record, and that this is the original, complete, true and accurate transcript which has been transcribed to the best of my skill and ability. __________________________ Keith J. Maurer Transcriber Free State Reporting, Inc. ( 410) 974-0947