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NYC Transit Union Says Dead Bodies Found On Tracks Left In Break Rooms

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Eric Lieberman Managing Editor
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An official for the Transport Workers Union (TWU) says that when authorities recover dead bodies from train tracks in New York City, they are often stored in break rooms.

Derek Echevarria, the vice president of TWU Local 100, which represents the workers in NYC, alleges that they are also found in places like “bathrooms” and “facility rooms” in which “anybody can just walk in without notice,” according to NY1.

“You have pieces, you have blood spatter,” Echevarria said. “It could be any contamination or disease,” he continued, adding that many employees are sent home after coming into contact with the corpses, or even just witnessing the horror. (RELATED: Seemingly Lost Man Walks Through NY Subway Tunnel, Causes Massive Delays)

“It’s of the utmost importance that anyone who dies in the subway is removed from tracks and public spaces like platforms as quickly as possible, to restore service quickly and to give humane treatment to the deceased and their family,” a spokesman for the MTA told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “The placement and removal of bodies are handled by NYPD [New York Police Department] and the NYC Medical Examiner, and we’re discussing with TWU officials how any of the current practices can be enhanced for the comfort of our workers.”

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) claims that Echevarria and TWU’s accusations are false, specifically that dead bodies are not kept in break rooms, but non-public spaces, and are almost never left unsupervised.

The MTA referred TheDCNF to the NYPD for comment, because they are in charge of handling the situation when someone is struck by a train, which is estimated to happen roughly 50 times per year in the city’s system.

The MTA says that NYPD removes dead bodies from the tracks as quickly as possible because a lack of expediency would further complicate and delay traffic for the thousands of every day commuters. Also, if bodies were left on platforms, it would still render the transportation services inaccessible for at least that portion of the system.

The NYPD has not yet reached back to TheDCNF’s request for comment by time of publication.

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