As if it weren't abundantly clear that 30-year Muni veteran Henry Gray probably still shouldn't have been behind the joystick of a train when he caused that crash in July '09, a new story in the Examiner points out that Gray had previously been suspended on four other occasions — at least one of which was for doing the same "cutout" maneuver that led to the West Portal smashup. Gray says he blacked out just before the crash, and may have been taking too many meds, but his record wasn't exactly pristine and he had, in fact, accidentally connected his train to another idle train at that very same station, performing that same auto-to-manual cutout trick in 2007.

Also, Gray had been suspended on other occasions for failing to make mandatory stops, and failing to pick up passengers along his route.

Gray is no longer employed by Muni, but the details of his departure have not been made public. So far, the crash has cost the SF MTA $5 million, and there are still 26 lawsuits pending among the 47 riders injured that day.