Train Operator's Family, Friends Devastated

SPRINGFIELD, Va. (WUSA) -- The driver of the striking train in the Metro accident was 42-year-old Jeanice McMillan, who is one of the dead.

Across the hall from her Springfield apartment, Joanne Harrison says it's difficult to open her door knowing Jeanice will never do the same. "I have grandchildren and we would leave our doors open and they would run in and our of her apartment."

Harrison also says Jeanice knew how to make the best greens. She and neighbor Alisha Anderson are devastated she's gone.

"She was a wonderful person. Very kind and caring. You couldn't ask for a better neighbor or a better friend," says Anderson.

Jeanice was a single mom to 19-year-old Jordon, a college student at Virginia Union in Richmond. Jeanice had worked for the Post Office before taking a job as a bus driver with Metro in 2007. She began working as a train operator in March.

Metro officials say there is no indication the train operator did anything wrong.

"If it was computer error, or human error, my nephew doesn't have a mother anymore. That's the thing," says Vernard McMillan, Jeanice's brother who lives in Upper Marlboro. The family grew up in Buffalo, New York and their parents still live in their childhood home. The Buffalo family members have flown to Maryland to be with everyone.

Vernard said his sister loved working for Metro and loved her job.

"Believe it or not, I know she would have apologized whether it was human error or not," says Vernard. "She would've apologized to every family of someone who lost their life and she would've said, 'I did the best I could.'"