The Amtrak engineer killed in Sunday’s crash had been involved in “four or five accidents’’ in recent years — traumatic experiences that led his brother to tell him minutes before he took his fatal ride, “Keep your eyes open,’’ the sibling said.
“Yeah, yeah, I will, it’s all good,’’ Michael Kempf replied as he boarded Amtrak’s doomed Silver Star, according to his brother, Richard Kempf.
“Michael had about four or five accidents over the six or eight years he was with Amtrak — there was always someone trying to beat the tracks or a suicider waiting for a train,” Richard said.
“After each accident, Amtrak gave him the rest of the week off but always pushed to get him rolling again.”
Michael eventually wanted to go on disability because he suffered mental trauma from the accidents and was afraid something else would happen, Richard said.
But Amtrak balked, and his brother had no choice but to continue working, Richard said.
“Michael had a family to take care of, and Amtrak put him back on board after checking with the psychiatrist,” he said.
In a chilling twist, Richard’s wife, Donna, said her brother-in-law formerly worked for the freight line CSX — but was so concerned about safety there that he went to work for Amtrak.
Amtrak said CSX was responsible for the track switch that led to Sunday’s deadly crash.
Still, Donna said, Michael, a 54-year-old former US Army tank commander, would say “the same went on” at Amtrak in terms of alleged lax safety.
“He even spoke with a psychiatrist about it — but now it’s too late,” she said, sobbing.
The other fatality in Sunday’s crash, conductor Michael Cella, was a former restaurant manager who switched careers “to make a better life for his family,” his grieving brother said.
Cella worked at an eatery in Jacksonville, Florida, until a co-worker steered him to a job with Amtrak around 2006, older brother John Paul Cella said.
Michael, 36, of Orange Park, Fla., loved his job on the rails and “was a great friend, son, father, husband and brother,” John Paul said.
Grief-stricken widow Christine Praeger Cella — with whom Michael was raising a daughter, 6, and a son, 2 — said, “He was amazing and he was a loving father.”
Mom Donna Cella, 61, said Michael “loved sports” and “played baseball and basketball.”
Donna also said she recently retired to spend more time with her family.
“But that will never happen, now that Michael won’t be here,” she said by phone as she began sobbing.
“I’m still trying to process this. The only information we were given is that he was on the train and he is deceased.”