Fired Charlotte light rail worker sues, alleges transit leaders tried to hide derailment

Terry Creech says the Charlotte train car that derailed on his watch should have never been put on the tracks. The city still fired him. Now, he’s suing the city.

The Charlotte Area Transit System fired Creech on June 23 following the May 2022 derailment, according to a termination letter he provided to The Charlotte Observer. City Council members did not learn of the derailment until this March, nearly a year later. No one was hurt during the incident, but its surfacing sounded calls for an independent investigation, as well as criticism from a former CATS CEO.

The lawsuit, filed last week by attorney Jonathan Metcalf, seeks monetary damages and accuses CATS management of wrongful — and hostile — termination. It also claims Creech was fired out of retaliation because he reported the derailment.

Creech also accuses the city of “actively concealing” public information and evidence relating to the derailment. While CATS told the public the derailment was an “system error,” it simultaneously accused Creech of committing a “safety error.”

The complaint, first reported by WSOC, the Observer’s news partner, also states Creech was fired not long after returning from family leave to care for his parents, one of whom later died.

Creech worked for the city for about 13 years and for CATS for about three years when the train car derailed, according to the lawsuit. His job as a light rail controller was similar to that of an air traffic controller’s, he said. He controlled all train movement on CATS’ Blue Line and Gold Line streetcar line, he said.

When the derailment happened on a weekend last May, upper management wasn’t working. He was alone, he said.

At the beginning of his shift, Creech said he was told the car that later derailed was cleared to run. He eventually found out it received maintenance for a wheel malfunction two days earlier.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation and local officials both said delayed maintenance was the root cause of the derailment and the train should never have been cleared to run.

While CATS’ termination letter acknowledges Creech’s actions did not contribute to the train’s derailment, it says he still committed two safety violations after it. Three violations in one year give grounds for termination, according to the letter. It is unclear what his third violation was.

According to CATS, Creech should not have told the operator to try to move to the next station or allowed another rail operator to pass a red light before receiving permission.

“Neither one of those incidents would’ve occurred if the train was functioning correctly,” Creech said. “If the train was not put back in service, none of this would have happened.”

Creech’s written account of the incident, which he shared with the Observer, details when the derailed train’s operator misheard his instructions and began traveling: a violation of CATS’ rule handbook.

Former CATS CEO John Lewis in an April 19 interview he didn’t know Creech had been fired until he read the Observer’s article. He was shocked.

“Every CATS employee has the right to appeal any discipline that they receive from any manager, and that appeal comes directly to me,” he said.

Lewis had done “countless ”appeal hearings, he said, and he wasn’t sure why Terry didn’t appeal last summer. Lewis left CATS before it completed the investigation and corrective action plan, he said.

The derailment that ultimately ousted Creech from CATS was just one of four known derailments in the last year. Three happened in the rail yard. The most recent happened Wednesday, according to WBTV. No passengers were aboard, the station reported.

Charlotte’s entire light rail fleet must now be repaired to fix a part defect found after the train derailment. Brent Cagle, interim Charlotte Area Transit System CEO, said he found out about the derailment just months after assuming his interim executive role, when the North Carolina Department of Transportation asked for a corrective action plan.

As transparency at CATS came under fire as the derailment and other transit troubles first came to light, City Manager Marcus Jones made himself available for interviews with press. Interim CATS CEO Brent Cagle announced plans to make a real time online dashboard to report bus and train incidents.

Observer reporter Genna Contino contributed.