A former MBTA employee was formally charged with gross negligence today following his indictment for allegedly causing a multi-train collision that injured dozens of passengers earlier this month, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

AIDEN QUINN (D.O.B. 11/24/84) of Attleboro was arraigned in Suffolk Superior Court this morning on a single count of gross negligence by a person in control of a train. The charge, which carries a maximum penalty of three years in state prison, stems from a May 8 collision between the Government Center and Park Street MBTA stations.

Assistant District Attorney Paul Treseler, Conley’s point person for motor vehicle offenses, told Clerk Magistrate Robin Vaughan that Quinn was operating train 3612 and was pulling another trolley car outbound on his route shortly after 7:00 p.m.

Treseler said Quinn was composing a text message to his girlfriend while accelerating from zero to 25 mph along 586’ of subway track. Treseler said Quinn passed two green lights, a yellow light, and a red light along that path before striking a motionless trolley with its brake lights on.

The force of the impact knocked the stationary trolley 36’ along the track at speeds as high as 9 mph, Treseler told the court. Dozens of passengers on both trains were injured, including:

1. A 28-year-old Lynn woman, who suffered a broken pelvis and has no medical guarantee of future mobility;

2. A 19-year-old Salem woman, who suffered a concussion and fractured vertebrae.

3. A 35-year-old Charlestown woman, whose right shoulder was separated from her collarbone;

4. A 39-year-old New Hampshire man, who was referred to a plastic surgeon for a four- to six-inch gash to his head;

5. A 20-year-old Boston woman, who suffered a broken tailbone;

6. A 32-year-old Brookline woman, who was five months pregnant and suffered a sprained ankle; and

7. A 67-year-old Marblehead man, who suffered muscle injuries and a contusion to the walls to his chest.

“A search warrant was conducted on Aiden Quinn’s phone,” Treseler said. “A text message was in progress in draft form.”

Additional evidence developed during the investigation shows that Quinn attempted to make a phone call shortly before the crash, the prosecutor said.

Treseler did not request that Quinn be held on monetary bail, instead asking the court to order Quinn to report weekly to the Department of Probation. Vaughn accommodated that request.

The case will return to court on July 27 for the formal appointment of a defense attorney. James Sultan represented Quinn at today’s proceedings.