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The Metro-North train engineer caught reading the paper while operating a rush hour train is calling it quits.
A spokesperson for the MTA confirmed to NBC New York that John Cooper resigned from his post on Friday after being employed with the agency since 1988.
Earlier in June, a Yonkers commuter named John Bingham found the Metro-North engineer to be "engrossed in a newspaper" during a morning commute and recorded him for approximately two minutes. According to Bingham, "He only looked up when the bells went off."
Following Bingham's video, the MTA suspended Cooper without pay and reassured, "Reading anything, texting or using cellphones while operating a train is obviously not acceptable."
The incident sparked other MTA workers to tape up windows that look into operators' cabs.
A colleague said Cooper had always been a dedicated worker and, "He’s always reading the rulebook. It’s unfortunate. I guess it was bad timing.”
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