DA finds no sign of phone use in T crash

Cell records, witnesses disprove rumor on driver

No alcohol or drugs were found in Ter'rese Edmonds.

There is no evidence that the trolley operator in last month's fatal Green Line crash was using her cellphone in the moments leading up to the accident, the Middlesex district attorney's office announced yesterday.

The findings put to rest nearly two weeks of speculation about whether Ter'rese Edmonds, 24, had been distracted by a text message or phone conversation before the rear-end crash that left Edmonds dead and several passengers injured.

Investigators reviewed cellphone records and interviewed at least three witnesses who could either see or hear Edmonds, said Corey Welford, spokesman for Middlesex District Attorney Gerard T. Leone Jr.

To Edmonds's family, the news that she was not using a cellphone lifted "a big burden," said Naomi Crumb, her aunt.

"I think that's a beautiful thing that they cleared that up, because, all along, we were saying that she was an excellent driver," Crumb said. "People say things, but they don't really know."

Crumb said that speculation about the cellphone has been especially hard on her brother, Edmonds's father. "It was very hurtful," she said. "It hurt my brother so bad he said, 'My heart has been hardened.' "

During evening rush hour on May 28, Edmonds's trolley rear-ended the trolley in front of her on the Green Line's D Branch in Newton, between the Waban and Woodland stations.

Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board, who are conducting a separate probe, have said that Edmonds was traveling between 37 and 38 miles per hour, nearly four times the speed limit. The trolley in front of her was just emerging from a red signal, traveling 3 or 4 miles per hour. NTSB spokesman Peter Knudson said investigators from his agency would conduct their own review of the cellphone records because the agency always looks at all evidence in a crash independently.

"It's not because we have a problem with the investigation that any other agency has done," he said.

Leone's office also announced that Edmonds did not have drugs or alcohol in her system, citing a report by the medical examiner.

With the announcement, Leone's office formally closed its investigation, which focused on whether there were any crimes to prosecute. In a statement, Leone said there was no evidence of criminal conduct by Edmonds or any of the crash survivors.

The NTSB's investigation is expected to take much longer, probably more than a year. The federal probe is intended to look at the specific cause of the crash and to recommend safeguards to prevent similar accidents.

Federal investigators continue to zero in on why Edmonds was speeding and why she failed to apply the brakes. Green Line trains are operated manually, with less input from dispatchers than the Blue, Red, and Orange lines. Edmonds encountered a red signal when she left Waban, the station before the crash site. Operators are supposed to stop for at least a minute and then proceed carefully, driving no faster than 10 miles per hour.

NTSB investigators have ruled out problems with the track, the signals, the brakes, and Edmonds's line of sight.

MBTA General Manager Daniel A. Grabauskas released a statement yesterday thanking investigators and promising to work with the NTSB in its probe.

Steve MacDougall, who heads the union representing trolley drivers, had pleaded with the news media, the public, and "even some of the employees at the MBTA" to tamp down speculation about cellphone use.

"Somehow, some way, we hope there's some good to come out of this," MacDougall said. "But we continue to ask, if not beg people, please stop speculating."

Noah Bierman can be reached at nbierman@globe.com.