Texting Trolley Driver Could Face Charges

BOSTON, May 11, 2009— -- The Boston-area transit authority trolley driver who allegedly slammed into another train while text-messaging his girlfriend Friday had three speeding tickets on his driving record in recent years and could face criminal charges.

Aiden Quinn, 24, received the three speeding tickets in his private vehicle, two in New Hampshire in April 2007, and one in Massachusetts in 2002, sources told ABC News.

Quinn, who was hired as a minority because of his transgendered "female-to-male" status, was born Georgia Quinn and boasts on an Internet networking site that he was one of the first transgender hires by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, sources said.

The trolley driver lists his sexual orientation as "FTM" and was hired as a minority using his transgender status, two sources told ABC News.

"[Quinn] was initially hired as a minority and used her transgender status,'' an MBTA source said today.

MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo told ABC News today that there was "nothing unusual" about Quinn's hire, and that he was picked out of a lottery that he entered in 2004.

The Green Line trolley Quinn was driving rear-ended another trolley that was stopped between two underground stations in downtown Boston on Friday night, injuring 46 people, and he told police he was texting at the time of the crash, officials said.

Three of four trolley cars were crushed and MBTA officials estimated the cost of damages from the crash at $9.6 million.

Formerly a part-time trolley driver, Quinn was hired as a full-time trolley operator from a streetcar motorman in March.

Quinn did not show up for a scheduled meeting Sunday between MBTA officials and National Transportation Safety Board investigators, claiming that he was sick, Pesaturo said.

Quinn could face criminal charges.

He will be fired later this week if investigators verify that he was using his cellular phone before the crash, MBTA general manager Daniel Grabauskas said.

Meanwhile, the head of the Boston-area transit authority said Saturday he'll ban all train and bus operators from even carrying cell phones.