Family of man dragged to his death on MBTA subway train demanding answers

BOSTON — The heartbroken family of a 39-year-old Boston man, dragged to his death Sunday morning when his hand got stuck in the door of an MBTA Red Line train, is demanding answers.

“We’re in shock. We don’t even know what to feel,” Kelvin Lalin, the victim’s nephew, said.

At about 12:30 Sunday morning, Robinson Lalin was trying to catch one of the last trains home at the Broadway MBTA station in South Boston when the train’s doors closed on his hand.

“His arm got stuck in the train. So, he never made it in the train, just his arm,” Kelvin Lalin said. “The door shut on his arm, and the train began to run. There’s only so much platform, so the train dragged him until he hit the wall, took his arm off.”

The MBTA, NTSB and Suffolk County District Attorney are all investigating the facts of the case,

But for Robinson Lalin’s family, there is one question: why didn’t anyone see him with his hand stuck inside the door of the train?

“They always check to see if it’s all clear before they can go. I’m suggesting the guy wanted to go home,” Lallin said. " He didn’t check if it was all clear, he ended up killing a man, and we’re all devastated.”

There are no conductors on subway trains to check to see if a platform is clear before a train moves out of a station.

But a T spokesman told me it is the train operator’s responsibility to check the mirrors, and to physically push their head out the window on the platform side to check to make sure there are no obstructions on the doors.

The operator of the train has been placed off duty while this investigation is underway. The MBTA says no other employee has been placed off duty.

The family of Robinson Lalin set up a GoFundMe to help pay for funeral expenses. If you would like to donate, you can do so at this link.

Related:

[25 Investigates: Red Line train that dragged man to his death had doors with ‘sensitive edges’]

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