Mother Of Teen Who Died In LIRR Train Gap Commits Suicide

For more than two years after Natalie Smead died in a fall at a Long Island Rail Road station, her mother fought to clear her daughter of responsibility in her own death.

Less than a month after a final federal report highlighted 18-year-old Natalie's own actions in the deadly accident, her mother, Susan Perry, gave up her fight.

Perry, of Northfield, Minn. committed suicide on April 5. Her Long Island-based lawyer, Bob Sullivan, said she was already depressed over her daughter's death and was dealt another blow by the National Transportation Safety Board's report in March that it was Natalie Smead's "alcohol-impaired condition," and not hazards in the design of Long Island Rail Road train platforms, that led to her death.

"Do I put 100 percent of the onus on the NTSB? No," Sullivan said. "But was it a strong contributing factor in Susan's decision? Yes. Was it the top, the strongest contributing factor? Yes."

Sullivan said as much in an April 21 letter to NTSB Acting Chairman Mark Rosenker, in which he blasted the agency's report as one-sided, sloppy and negligent. Natalie Smead's family had already settled a lawsuit with the Long Island Rail Road for an undisclosed cash sum before Perry's suicide, and Sullivan said his only goal in writing the letter was to go public with what he considers an injustice.

"I will leave you to your own rationalization," Sullivan wrote after noting Perry's suicide.

Spokesman Terry Holloway said the NTSB had no comment on the letter.

In August 2006, Natalie Smead, who grew up in Northfield, was a month away from starting college in St. Paul when she traveled with her father, Peter Smead, to visit family and sightsee in the New York City area.

The trip was a high school graduation gift from her father. Peter Smead and Susan Perry were divorced, but maintained a friendly relationship in raising Natalie and kept a united front in the lawsuit after her death.

On Aug. 5, Natalie was with a group of cousins and other teenagers at a railroad station in Woodside, Queens while en route to a rock concert on Randall's Island. "We never denied that Natalie was drinking, the group was partying," Peter Smead said.

But he pointed out that the Long Island Rail Road advertised itself as an alternative for people who want to avoid drinking and driving.

A toxicology report cited by the NTSB found Natalie's blood-alcohol content was 0.23 percent, nearly three times the legal limit for driving.

Natalie was 5'6 and 110 pounds. As she was getting off a train, she fell through a gap about a foot wide between the train and the platform. She crossed under the platform and was trying to climb up the other side when she was struck by another train.

The NTSB report said Natalie ignored shouted instructions from a conductor to stay in the spot where she fell. In his letter, Sullivan said the NTSB ignored witness testimony that the doors of the train closed as Natalie was exiting, causing her to fall, and that numerous people were shouting contradictory instructions at her after she fell.

Her death was the first attributed to someone falling through the gap. But a Newsday report after her death found the Long Island Rail Road had logged over 900 gap-related injuries since 1995, including a 2004 accident that left a 67-year-old former Radio City Rockette a quadriplegic.

After Natalie's death, the railroad made changes at many stations to lessen the gap hazard. Some stations had their tracks realigned, added platform conductors and had wooden boards installed to narrow gaps. The railroad also launched a public relations campaign warning passengers to "Watch the Gap."