WASHINGTON - A man found dead on a Red Line train may have been there for more than three hours as the train sat in a rail yard at Shady Grove station, Metro officials told the Examiner.
But Metro was refusing to identify the man whose body was found Monday afternoon. It also was not clear why he was not discovered sooner.
A train operator found the man lying on the floor of a rail car about 2:55 p.m. Monday while completing a pre-departure inspection before bringing it into service at the Shady Grove station, according to Metro.
The man apparently boarded the train two stops away at Twinbrook at 10:15 a.m. The train then headed toward Silver Spring at the other end of the line, then returned to Shady Grove at 11:55 a.m., according to Metro.
Metro says it did not receive any reports from riders about the man. Metrorail personnel also inspected the train from the platform when it arrived before moving it to the rail yard.
Police found no obvious signs of injuries or foul play, Metro spokesman Reggie Woodruff said. The man's body will undergo an autopsy to determine what killed him.
The death has prompted Metro to review its policies on inspecting trains returning to rail yards. But it also raises questions on what information the agency releases to the public.
The transit agency is refusing to release the name of the man or his age "out of respect for the deceased," Woodruff said. But six other major transit agencies surveyed by The Washington Examiner either release the information directly or rely on outside police departments that release it.
It's the latest example of Metro failing to release information. Metro did not issue a press release until Tuesday night because rail "service was not affected," Woodruff said, even though the train was pulled from operation and other trains shared a single track after the body was found.
Last Friday, the agency did not alert the public when a man killed himself by jumping from the Shady Grove parking deck, as they said that death also did not affect service.
Typically when people die in public areas their names become public record, with the local police departments handling such information. For example, the Montgomery County police say they would have released the name in a death investigation, said Sgt. C. Thomas Jordan. But Metro has its own police department that is leading the probe of the case that happened in the county. "If they're investigating, we pretty much don't step on toes," Jordan said.
Whether a person dies by suicide, natural causes or outright homicide on Metro's property, the transit agency has said it will not release the person's name, under a policy adopted within the past year.
(This item appeared May 19, 2010, in the Washington Examiner.)
