NEW YORK (PIX11) — The widow of an MTA train operator who died in a subway fire in 2020 has been struggling after getting cut off from her late husband’s health benefits.
Delilah Goble is the widow of Garrett Goble, a man who died a hero. Goble said not a day goes by without her missing her late husband. What makes it even harder for her has been getting cut off of his medical benefits, she said.
“I’m upset because I’m on medication due to what happened to my husband,” Goble said.
In March 2020, a man set a shopping cart on fire inside of a subway car, causing the train to burst into flames, according to police. Garrett Goble was operating the train at the time.
Goble and another MTA employee sprung into action to get passengers off the train safely, but when the smoke cleared, Goble was found unresponsive.
The widow and mother of two children said she was completely cut off from her husband’s medical benefits without notice or warning about a month ago. After trying to reach out to the MTA and the union, Goble said she hit a dead end.
“As with any line of duty death, the employee’s family is entitled to a cash payment and three years of health benefits, as were provided here. New York City Transit will never forget the heroism of Garrett Goble who is memorialized in a mural at his home station in Flatbush,” an MTA spokesperson said in a statement.
“All I want is my insurance. If my husband was here, we would’ve had insurance. I think that time is past, and they’re saying ‘forget me, forget our children,’ and that’s just not right,” Goble said.
The Transit Workers Union said it is working on correcting the lapse that left Goble and her children uninsured.
