What Happened Before La Grange Train Crash

LA GRANGE, IL – A truck driver explained what happened just before he crashed into a freight train last month in downtown La Grange, according to public records.

Patch obtained the Metra police report through a public records request.

The crash was late in the afternoon of June 13.

The 46-year-old North Carolina man, who was driving a semi-truck, told officers that he was headed east on Burlington Avenue when he turned north on La Grange Road, according to the report. (The village said Wednesday that the trucker was actually going west. If he had been eastbound on Burlington, he would have been barred from taking a left onto La Grange Road.)

The man said he failed to notice the approaching BNSF train and that the gates activated before the crash happened, police said.

The train dragged the truck west down the tracks, damaging signal equipment and the train station structure, police said.

Two witnesses reported seeing the crash and agreed with the driver that the gates had come down before the driver tried to cross.

BNSF employees said the westbound train was traveling 20 mph at the time of the crash, police said. The train's engineer reported sounding the horn and going into emergency mode after seeing the semi-truck on the tracks.

The truck driver was cited on charges of disobeying a signal and damaging public property.

No one was reported hurt.

The driver worked for Kentucky-based Paschall Truck Lines Inc., according to Metra.