Legislature recognizes good Samaritan in Green Line crash

(Pool Photo)

Ben Papapietro meeting with Min Perry at the hospital.

By Globe Staff

A 19-year-old Sudbury man was praised today in the state Senate for comforting a woman who was trapped in the twisted wreckage of a trolley during a crash in May on the Green Line in Newton.

"Not everyone could have gone back into a smoking train to help a perfect stranger. But Ben did," said Senator Susan Fargo, who, along with Senator Pam Resor, presented Ben Papapietro with a citation from the Senate. Representative Thomas Conroy handed him one from the House.

Fargo praised Papapietro for his "courageous and selfless act." The assemblage erupted in applause when Papapietro accepted the citations.

Papapietro, a sophomore at the University of Arizona who is an intern with the Red Sox, came to the aid of Min Perry, 37, of Wellesley, who was sitting in the seat behind trolley driver Ter'rese Edmonds, the lone fatality in the crash.

Papapietro can be heard comforting Perry on a 911 tape released by the MBTA Transit Police.

"You're fine. You're going to be fine, I promise," Papapietro tells Perry.

Papapietro said he was in the rear car of the two-car trolley that slammed into the back of another trolley on May 28. He said he ran out, but heard screaming and ran back in and helped Perry.

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