Brightline sued for $60 million by ex-conductor diagnosed with PTSD after witnessing 7 deaths

Angie DiMichele, South Florida Sun-Sentinel on Dec 19, 2025

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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A former Brightline conductor filed a federal lawsuit against the company this week, asserting that the job caused him severe PTSD after repeatedly witnessing brutal crashes and violent deaths throughout his five years operating the high-speed passenger trains.

Darren J. Brown Jr. worked as a Brightline conductor between 2018 and 2023 and has nearly 20 years of experience in freight and passenger rail operations and mechanical work since beginning his railroading career as a freight conductor in Chicago, according to his lawsuit complaint filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Brightline and Fortress Investment Group LLC are the defendants in the lawsuit in which Brown is demanding a jury trial and $60 million under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act. Spokespersons for the two companies did not respond to emails seeking comment Friday afternoon.

Brown, who is now working as a sports and entertainment agent, is representing himself in the lawsuit, he told The South Florida Sun Sentinel. He said he could not comment outside of the complaint.

The complaint details frequent and numerous graphic scenes Brown witnessed immediately after trains he conducted collided with people and cars on the South Florida corridor: “… smoking and sometimes burning car wreckage, twisted metal, and debris fields contaminated with blood and bodily remains from pedestrians and vehicles struck at speeds up to 79 mph.” He is named as the conductor in police and other official reports for at least seven separate deadly crashes in Palm Beach County and Broward County between 2018 and late 2022.

Brightline’s trauma clinician diagnosed Brown with chronic PTSD in October 2023. He requested leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act but Brightline “failed to grant appropriate leave or accommodations,” the complaint alleges. Brown later resigned.

Brightline assigned Brown “trauma-heavy duties” and denied, delayed or limited, depending on staffing needs, his requests for leave or other time off related to mental health, the lawsuit alleges. The company’s culture “normalized frequent fatalities” and looked negatively upon requests for mental health treatment, among other allegations, according to the complaint. Engineers and conductors would warn each other that asking for trauma leave or “pushing too hard on safety and mental-health issues” could affect their assignments or advancement in the job.

“After fatal incidents, management often urged crews to ‘just take it to the next station,’ ‘keep things moving,’ or ‘do it as a favor,’ framing continued operation as a sign of toughness and loyalty,” Brown’s complaint alleges.

Among the deaths Brown witnessed was a November 2018 crash where a man “dove headfirst” in front of Brown’s train traveling at 79 mph in Hollywood. While first responders and the man’s body were still on the track, Brightline’s dispatch cleared a second train to pass through the active scene, the complaint says, hitting the man’s body again, narrowly avoiding hitting first responders.

A February 2022 crash is particularly hard to forget for Brown, according to the complaint. Brown’s train at full speed of 79 mph struck a 1999 Honda Civic that had driven around a lowered gate at a grade crossing in Lake Worth Beach. The car split in two, and Brown was “ordered to leave the cab and run back to the scene through smoldering car parts and burning debris,” the complaint says. He found the driver “crushed and pinned inside, screaming in agony,” and watched him be airlifted to a hospital in critical condition.

The Miami Herald and WLRN featured Brown’s story, “Haunted by Brightline,” as part of the team’s “Killer Train” investigative series into Brightline deaths published earlier this year. Brightline trains have killed nearly 200 people since 2017, the investigation found.