CRASH
VICTIMS TO GET $10 MILLION
(As reported in the Daily Herald)
By Robert McCoppin
Daily Herald Staff Writer
September 22, 2000
Two
railroad companies agreed to pay almost $10 million on September
21, 2000 to two women who were badly injured in a car collision
with a train in DuPage County, an attorney said.
The
companies admitted some responsibility for the crash, said
the passenger's attorney Timothy J. Cavanagh.
He
accused the companies of not taking proper precautions in
response to a broken crossing gate.
The
crash occurred on a snowy afternoon on March 9, 1998, where
Schmale Road crosses the Illinois Central Railroad near
Carol Stream.
Police
said the crossing gate had been broken off, one of several
gates snapped that day in the storm.
Railroad
officials initially denied knowledge that the gate had been
broken previously, but tapes indicate Bloomingdale police
told an Illinois Central dispatching supervisor about the
broken gate about an hour before the crash.
The
two women were driving together south on Schmale Road, but
authorities said the driving snow kept the driver, 40 year
old Subhra Gangopadhyay of Glendale Heights from seeing
the flashing crossing lights.
The
car slid into the left front nose of the train engine and
was smashed, throwing the two women from the car.
Gangopadhyay
suffered severe head and abdominal injuries.
The
passenger, 44 year old Hanifa Ajmeri of Carol Stream, was
put on life support with several fractures, including a
shattered hip, a head injury and internal bleeding, and
remained in critical care for three weeks.
She
has had eight surgeries, still walks with a limp and a cane,
no longer works testing circuit boards, and has become sedentary,
her family said.
Her
daughter-in-law, Alfina Ajmeri, said Hanifa Ajmeri was pleased
the matter was being resolved. Hanifa doesn't remember the
accident, Alfina Ajmeri said, but still wonders why it happened
to her.
Hanifa
Ajmeri,a mother of four, got the majority of the money,
$9.1 million, because her injuries were more severe, Cavanagh
said.
The
Chicago Central & Pacific Railroad Company, which was
operating the train, and the Illinois Central Railroad,
which provided dispatch services, should have instituted
a "stop and flag" procedure, in which they would
have a worker flag down drivers to stop them as the train
passed until the gate was fixed the next day, Cavanagh said.
Railroad
attorney Mike Connelly was not available for comment following
the settlement in Cook County Circuit Court. Previously,
an Illinois Central spokesman said drivers have a responsibility
to drive no faster than the conditions allow.
