MBTA agrees to $5 million settlement with family of man dragged to death on the Red Line

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority reached a $5 million settlement with the family of a man who was dragged to death after his arm was trapped in a Red Line car door, according to documents filed in court.

Robinson Lalin, 39, died in 2022 after the train dragged him 105 feet across a Broadway Station platform and onto the ground near the tracks, according to a National Transportation Safety Board report.

MBTA rail cars are equipped with safety features to stop them from moving when a door is obstructed. The NTSB later located a short circuit that allowed the train to move while the door was blocked.

The MBTA did not comment on the settlement.

The settlement was filed on April 10 and was first reported by The Boston Globe. Lalin’s two children and nephew will share the $5 million.

Lalin’s death came amidst several safety-related incidents on the T. In 2021, 27 people went to the hospital after a Green Line train crashed into another train. In September of the same year, Boston University professor David K. Jones fell through a rusted JFK/UMass station staircase and died. In 2022, a commuter rail struck a car in Wilmington and killed Roberta Sausville after the gates at an intersection failed.

The cascade of incidents led to a Federal Transit Administration review of the MBTA in 2022. Its scathing 90-page report pointed to 53 problems, including safety management concerns. The department found that the “MBTA does not have sufficient capabilities for identifying priorities to address safety concerns from the agency’s operations, maintenance, and capital project delivery programs.”

The FTA directed the T to address infrastructure repairs, policies regarding the movement of disabled trains, lapsed certifications for operations dispatchers and hours of work violations and expired certifications for rail transit operations personnel.