The Metro-North employee who took the ill-fated Hudson Line train on a day off to hang out in New York City with his son recalled the harrowing crash that left him paralyzed in an emotional press conference on Wednesday.
“I remember my son being near me,” a teary Samuel Rivera, 39, recalled. “I remember telling him that I don’t think I’m going to make it- take care of mommy and the baby.”
The Ossining dad was watching the Season 3 of the zombie series “Walking Dead” on his Android phone when he found himself living a nightmare.
“I just flew in the air and I don’t remember too much after that,” he said.
“Somebody had told me I crashed into a wall in the train. I broke a luggage rack,” said the paraplegic who filed a $100 million suit against his employer said.
The devoted Yankees and Knicks fan has no movement in his legs and can barely use his arms.
“The fact that I can’t walk, and pick up my daughter, stuff like that, is just hard,” Rivera said.
His 14-year-old son Sam Jr. escaped with minor injuries.
Rivera said he forgives engineer William Rockefeller who nodded off just before the derailment.
“People make mistakes. It happens.” Rivera said. “His mistake just ended up a as a major tragedy, but I do forgive him.”
Last December’s accident caused four deaths and over 60 injuries. Seven riders have filed lawsuits against Metro-North.
Rivera was hoping to be a train conductor. Now he spends his days in rehab going to therapy, laying in bed and surfing the web. He is still employed by the railroad.
His attorney, Gregory Cannata, said the request for $100 million in damages is to cover medical costs that will run into the “hundreds of thousands of dollars each year” and “to protect [Rivera’s] family’s financial future.”
“There’s not much I can do anymore,” Rivera said from the White Plains rehabilitation center where he’s been recuperating since undergoing spinal surgery last year.
Additional reporting by Susan Edelman and Rebecca Harshbarger