Report: Woman who fell into train pit thankful, humiliated

By Globe Staff

The woman who fell into the Orange Line train pit at North Station on Friday night is grateful to the bystanders who waved their arms and slowed down a train entering the station and to the train operator who brought her vehicle to a stop within inches of her, according to a broadcast report.

"I am incredibly thankful that there are that many people who would do something," Sophia Hartdegen, 26, told WCVB-TV today. "I am incredibly thankful the driver was alert."

Hartdegen, who transit police said appeared to be intoxicated when she fell, said she had drunk four 22-ounce beers, but she did not have a drinking problem and she felt fine when she walked to the station.

Hartdegen had scraped knees from the incident but was otherwise all right.

She told WCVB-TV that she was traumatized by her experience and afraid to go out in public because she was humiliated.

No one answered the door at her Cambridge home tonight.

(For a photo gallery of the incident, click here. For an eyewitness account, click here.)