MTA: Derailed Metro

Eddie Russell has filed a notice of claim - the first step in filing a lawsuit - saying he suffered 'mental and physical' injuries including 'fear of impending death' in the horrific Dec. 1 derailment. WABC

A cop who was injured in Sunday's Metro-North crash is planning to sue the agency for $10 million.

Eddie Russell has filed a notice of claim - the first step in filing a lawsuit - saying he suffered 'mental and physical' injuries including 'fear of impending death' in the horrific Dec. 1 derailment.

Russell, a 22-year vet at the NYPD, was on his way into Manhattan from his upstate New Windsor home when the train careened off the rails, injuring his head, neck, back and torso and leaving him unable to work, the filing says.

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It blames the accident not on train engineer William Rockefeller, who allegedly dozed off as the train sped towards a curve, but on Metro-North and its parent agency, the MTA.

It accuses both of being negligent by failing to address a dangerous curve in The Bronx.

Christopher Gregory/Getty Images

The filing says there had been an accident in the same area months earlier, and nothing had been done to make it safer.

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'No one looked into whether the design of the tracks at or around the location caused and/or contributed to the accident,' said Russell's lawyer, Robert Vilensky.

The notice of claim also says the agency was negligent because it allowed the 'engineer to operate the train without ensuring that he had adequate sleep,' and for failing to have safety procedures in place in the event an engineer 'nodded off.'

Vilensky said the MTA should be held accountable.

RELATED: METRO-NORTH ENGINEER: 'I WAS IN A DAZE' BEFORE CRASH HANDOUT/REUTERS

'Isn't one purpose of the government to protect those they serve?' he said. 'There have just been too many accidents to say it's coincidental. Something needs to be done to save lives.'

The notice of claim was the second to be filed over the deadly derailment.

One was filed on behalf of a dentist named Denise Williams on Tuesday.

The doctor, who had been on her way to a dental convention at the Javits Center, was ejected from the train and broke her back.

In all, four people were killed and over 60 injured.

A rep for the MTA declined comment on the filings, citing the looming litigation.