Driver in Fatal Subway Crash Gets Prison

A former subway motorman who was sentenced Friday to up to 15 years in prison for manslaughter, said he wished he had been killed instead of the five passengers in the crash that occurred while he was drunk.

“My heart bleeds deeply for the families involved,” Robert Ray said before being sentencing to the maximum of five to 15 years. “I wish it had been me. I’m saddened by the whole thing. It wasn’t intentional. It was an accident. I can’t explain how it happened, but it happened.

“I’ll accept the sentence, go to jail and do the time I have to do.”

Ray, 39, did not mention that a toxicologist from the city medical examiner’s office, the National Transportation Safety Board and the jury found that he had been drunk when his train crashed on Aug. 28, 1991.

Evidence showed that Ray’s blood-alcohol level was up to three times the legal limit when he drove his express train into the Union Square station at 50 m.p.h. The train jumped a switch that was supposed to have put the train onto the local track.

Police testified that Ray told them he drank about 20 ounces of Scotch whiskey and napped about 2 1/2 hours before he left for work.

Ray denied that, saying he had about five ounces in two drinks. He said his blood-alcohol level was elevated when tested because he drank several 16-ounce cans of malt liquor after the crash.

Ray was convicted last month on five counts of manslaughter and 15 counts of second- and third-degree manslaughter, but cleared of murder charges.

In addition to the deaths, more than 200 people were injured. Service on the line was disrupted for several days.

State Justice Daniel P. Fitzgerald sentenced Ray to five to 15 years for each manslaughter count and shorter sentences for the other counts. By law, the sentences must run concurrently. Ray will be eligible for parole in five years.

Ray’s lawyer, Michael Parson, said the sentence was “more than what was deserved, but it was what I expected because of public and media pressure.”

Lucy Rivera of the Bronx wept in the hallway outside the courtroom. She said one passenger who died, Victor Lewis, 36, was a guard in her building and a friend for years. But she also has known Ray for nearly 30 years. “I have feelings for both their families,” she said.