Live by the train, die by the train - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

aklim · #1 05-08-2010, 12:35 AM

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ib4qWVV3bVNvHDZqI_YEJUKtSDNQD9FI9IE80

CHICAGO — The executive director of the Chicago area's Metra commuter train service died of an apparent suicide Friday after he stepped into the path of one of his agency's trains, authorities said.
Phil Pagano, 60, was on paid administrative leave at the time of his death after Metra began investigating allegations that he received an unapproved $56,000 bonus.
McHenry County Sheriff Keith Nygren said a train engineer put on the emergency brakes when he saw Pagano on the tracks about 50 miles northwest of Chicago Friday morning but was unable to stop. Pagano died instantly, he said.
"He stood on the tracks and he faced the train as the train was coming toward him," Nygren said.
Pagano's death came just hours before the Metra board of directors was scheduled to have an emergency meeting to discuss the investigation. Metra later canceled the meeting.
Two written notes were found, one in Pagano's pocket and one at his home, Nygren said.
"They're the type of note that would lead us to believe that this was an intentional act on the part of the deceased," Nygren said. "We have no reason to believe there's anything criminal involved in this."
Metra, a commuter train system that serves Chicago and its suburbs, announced on April 30 that Pagano was under investigation and that he had been placed on paid administrative leave from his $269,000-a-year job. Metra had hired an attorney to investigate allegations that the Metra executive director of 20 years had received an unauthorized $56,000 bonus. No further details were immediately available.
Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin said Friday that he had asked the inspector general at the Department of Transportation to investigate what happened to federal funds that were sent to Metra and make sure they were spent properly.
"It's certainly something the taxpayers would expect and the 300,000 people who use Metra everyday want more federal dollars coming in, so we wanted to make sure that we'd done everything we were supposed to do with those dollars," Durbin said. No further details were immediately available.
Phone messages and e-mails left with Metra officials seeking comment about the investigations were not returned. Pagano's attorney George Jackson III said Friday that he had no comment.
"Phil served this agency with distinction for many years," Metra said in a statement. "We shall remember the good work he achieved with our board of directors and the men and women of Metra. He was dedicated to our passengers and he always considered the men and women of Metra his family.
The McHenry County Coroner Marlene Lantz said an autopsy was tentatively scheduled for Saturday. Pagano's wife and daughter were notified earlier Friday, the sheriff said.
Police said none of the 24 passengers and three employees aboard the Metra train were injured.

chilcutt · #2 05-08-2010, 06:28 AM

Now THAT took a lot of balls...........

t walgamuth · #3 05-08-2010, 07:13 AM

It's hard to understand how someone already making 269 per year would think he needed another 56K and ruin his life over it....

(I wouldn't ruin my life for less than 5,000,000.

)

aklim · #4 05-08-2010, 10:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by t walgamuth

It's hard to understand how someone already making 269 per year would think he needed another 56K and ruin his life over it....

(I wouldn't ruin my life for less than 5,000,000.

)

When you realize that people are what they are, understanding comes easy. Do you think he will stop at this 59K? I'm sure he has done it in the past and/or he plans to do it again. IF he got away with it this year, do you think he will simply stop here and never do it again? He plans to do it again and again. Problem with crooks is that they think that they have "The System" down pat. Look at the losers in Vegas. Most of them had a system that would pay big bucks. Vegas wasn't built on people winning or being smart.

SwampYankee · #5 05-08-2010, 10:56 AM

What a selfish POS. Even though there's not much they could have done, that poor engineer will have to live with that for the rest of his life.

kknudson · #6 05-08-2010, 11:17 AM

First word is he took an advance on his vacation pay (11 weeks / year geesh wonder why governments have problems), although I heard he forged the CFOs signature to get it.

This is a shame, he was highly rated, regarded and everything else business wise.
His employees loved and respected him too, he did an amazing job IMHO.

Why he killed himself in that way is sickening as he has worked with engineers that have had to face that, and even setup a special fund to help them.

Do remember this is Chicago, and interestingly we have had a large number of officials under investigation that suddenly commit "suicide" recently.

retmil46 · #7 05-08-2010, 12:19 PM

Sounds like the 56K may have only been the tip of the iceberg - that once they took a closer look, they'd find a whole slew of other deals that would have made this one instance look like peanuts, including possible criminal charges - on the face of it, that's the one obvious reason I can think of for the man doing something along this line.

But as we brought up a couple months ago discussing college students doing the same prior to final exams - we've no idea what was going on in this man's private life or his emotional state - this may have been the trigger, not the cause, for the man taking his own life.

You'd be amazed at how some people are affected by money - the more they make, the more ways they find to spend it, the deeper into debt they get, and then need even more money to keep things afloat.

Otherwise, I'd agree with the one comment - if this was only a one-time instance in an otherwise stellar public career, he could have pleaded mea culpa and publicly admitted "yes, I screwed up by taking this money, and will make arrangements to pay it back" - his actions say it was far more complicated than just that.