Brooklyn Mom Sues MTA After Son Struck, Killed By Subway Train

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A Brooklyn mother is suing the Metropolitan Transportation Authority for $50 million in damages over the death of her son who was struck and killed by a subway train last November.

Marva Nelson said the MTA was negligent by failing to do more to search for her 24-year-old son, Briant Rowe, after a toll booth clerk saw him wander into the subway tunnel on Nov. 19.

1010 WINS' Juliet Papa reports

"It feels as if a part of my heart went with him, a part of it is ripped out," Nelson said. "When I wake up, it seems as if I'm just reliving this whole thing over and over again."

The clerk apparently called for the tunnel to be closed and attorney Roger Archibald said the MTA deployed an empty subway car to conduct a search.

The family claims the search lasted about 40 minutes and when Rowe couldn't be found, the tunnel was reopened.

An hour after the search turned up empty, Rowe was struck and killed by a northbound No. 5 train on its way to the Newkirk Avenue Station.

Archibald said the MTA should've shut down the track and sent searchers out on foot.

An MTA spokesman would not comment on search protocol.

Sound off in our comments section below...