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Warning given to cousin just before fatal gap fall

BY REID J. EPSTEIN | Newsday Staff Writer

8:43 PM EST, November 18, 2006

Handout photo of Natalie and Pete Smead , taken on top of the Empire State Building on August 2006.

As Natalie Smead was about to step off the train at Woodside after a ride punctuated by laughter with friends and plastic cups of Red Bull and vodka, her cousin told her to be careful of the gap.

"I was right in front of her," said Colette Heefner of Merrick, Smead's 17-year-old second cousin. "I even said, 'Watch the gap.' I said it as a joke. I said it in a stupid voice."

Seconds later, the 5-foot-6, 120-pound Smead, a Minnesota teenager visiting Heefner as a high school graduation present from her father, fell between the Long Island Rail Road car and the Woodside platform.

"I can't believe I actually said that," Heefner said. "Before I knew it, I turned around and she was through."

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so tonight's accident victim was a graffiti "artist". ONLY the NY Times cares! Send his "parents" the bill for tying up working people trying to get home!

Submitted by Tired of it all

9:56 PM EST, Jan 5, 2007

tonights incident is the equivalent of "snow days" in the public school system! viva la mexico! if you see something, say something!

Submitted by Freeport

9:49 PM EST, Jan 5, 2007

one "accident" strands 200,000 commuters in their tracks! Makes you feel REAL confident about the homeland security & evacuation plans we continue to pay for!!!!

Submitted by Freeport

9:47 PM EST, Jan 5, 2007

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Amid the chaos, Heefner briefly held her cousin's hand but had to let go to keep the train doors open, she said. "I let go of her hand and I said, 'Stay down there,'" Heefner said. "I opened up the doors myself. I had someone stand one foot on the train and one on the platform. ... I told her to stay there."

Instead, Smead crawled under the train to escape, and was struck by a westbound train. She died that night.

In her first public comments since her cousin's Aug. 5 death, Heefner described how an afternoon that began sipping mixed drinks in a friend's yard ended so tragically.

Neither Heefner nor Smead was drunk, Heefner said, but both were having a good time.

The state Public Transportation Safety Board is expected to release results of its investigation tomorrow in Albany. It's unclear if the state will address whether alcohol played any role.

Visit turns tragic

Heefner, an honor student and goalie on the soccer team at Sanford H. Calhoun High School in Merrick, and Smead had spent the week together with their fathers and Heefner's mother. They hit New York City tourist spots like Ellis Island and Little Italy, took in a Yankee game and went boy-watching at Lido Beach. That day was to be the finale of their week together.

Since Smead's death, her parents filed a $5 million legal claim against the LIRR and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and federal and state investigations were launched.

The death also prompted widespread changes at some railroad stations, where Newsday found gaps as wide as 15 inches, including gaps of up to 11 inches at the Woodside station. In October, the LIRR announced it was moving thousands of feet of track closer to platforms at several stations. Last week, the LIRR announced it was modifying several platforms to bring them closer to the trains.

Heefner, who spoke to Newsday last week from the kitchen table of her family's home, is the first witness of Smead's fall into the gap to speak publicly about what happened.

Smead's father, Peter Smead of Northfield, Minn., said it is hard to hear about his daughter's accident.

"There's details there I don't know," he said. "There's details I don't want to know."

Day of destiny

Aug. 5 was a Saturday, and Heefner and Smead had plans to join a group of Heefner's friends at a Dave Matthews Band concert that night at Randalls Island. The two left the Heefner house around 1:30 p.m. and headed to a house near the Merrick LIRR station, where they joined a group of 10 other teenagers hanging out outdoors, some with plastic cups of Red Bull mixed with vodka.

"To what extent [we were drinking], not much at all," Heefner said. "It was an all-day event, for sure. It was a concert, but no one was falling over the place by any means."

After an hour, the group of 12 walked to the Merrick station, where they met up with 15 other concertgoers and caught the 3:09 p.m. train. All 27 teenagers boarded the first car in the train, Heefner said. As she had all week, Smead mixed well with the Merrick kids, so much that she didn't talk to her cousin much during the ride into Queens.