LOS ANGELES -- The Southern California regional rail authority that runs Metrolink commuter trains has agreed to pay $135,000 to a former spokeswoman who resigned after announcing the probable cause of a crash that killed 25 people, the Associated Press reported.
The Los Angeles Times reports on its Web site that it obtained the settlement agreement Tuesday.
In the hours after a Metrolink train collided with a freight train in the San Fernando Valley last year, Denise Tyrrell told reporters the commuter train's engineer ran a red light. She resigned after being criticized by some on the railroad's board that her announcement was premature.
Federal investigators have since said the engineer ran the light and was text messaging 22 seconds before the crash.
(The preceding article was distributed May 5, 2009, by the Associated Press.)
