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Suit: Inadequate crossing gates in La Grange led to fatal Metra crash
Updated: February 11, 2013 6:00PM
The family of a motorist killed by a Metra train when the vehicle she was driving was “trapped” between the gates filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the transit agency Wednesday.
Maria Hinojosa was driving north when the vehicle “became trapped on the railroad tracks between warning gates” and was struck by a BNSF Metra train Feb. 10, 2012, in La Grange, according to a suit filed in Cook County Circuit Court by Guadalupe Garcia, administrator to Hinojosa’s estate.
The train was not carrying any passengers and was headed at maximum speed to Chicago to turn around for an outbound run when it struck the vehicle at the La Grange Road station, Metra officials said at the time.
Hinojosa, 57, of the 3000 block of Keeler Avenue, was declared dead at the scene, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office.
The suit claims Metra negligently operated the crossing gates, lights and signals causing Hinojosa’s vehicle to be struck. It also claims, among other things, the conductor didn’t keep a proper lookout.
A Metra spokesman declined to comment on pending litigation.
The three-count suit, which also names the Village of La Grange as a defendant, is seeking more than $150,000.
