Station Agent Goodwin's Good Name Restored
A Manhattan judge on Friday posthumously dismissed the bogus criminal charges police levied against Station Agent Darryl Goodwin in May. Local 100 Stations Division Chair Joe Bermudez, and a contingent of union officers and members, attended the court proceedings, fulfilling a union promise to see Goodwin’s good name cleared. “Darryl never should have been arrested in the first place,” TWU Local 100 President Tony Utano said. “Even though he is no longer with us, it was important to his family, and to us, that these charges be dropped.”
Goodwin, 54, passed away of an apparent heart attack in August, approximately 3 months after a police lieutenant from a Midtown North precinct claimed Goodwin thwarted his pursuit of a fleeing shoplifter through the 59th St./Columbus Circle station. The lieutenant claimed Goodwin twice refused to buzz him through a service gate and then resisted arrested on an obstruction charge. Goodwin adamantly denied the allegations, saying he opened the gate remotely once he became aware of the situation. He initially was focused on taking care of a rider at his booth, he said prior to his passing. “These charges were bogus,” Vice President of Stations Derick Echevarria, who knew Goodwin since high school, said. “Darryl was a quite guy. A gentle giant. He wasn’t someone who would be starting trouble.”
Police officers are issued MetroCards. The lieutenant could have simply swiped himself through the turnstiles – or jumped the turnstile – if he was in fact in hot pursuit, Echevarria said. The case was in an early pre-trial stage when Goodwin died. He was under a lot of stress from the case and working a lot of overtime to make up for time lost while he was suspended by the MTA. “I think that played a role in his death,” Echevarria said. - Pete Donohue