Kedzie Brown Line - Cop Car runs gates, bad news

http://gapersblock.com/merge/archives/2 ... not-cross/

"An unmarked police car went around the gates at the Kedzie Brown Line crossing after a Loop-bound train passed -- and was hit by a northbound train."

More detail ...

The injured officer was coming to the aid of her partner, who was chasing someone on foot, police said. They could not immediately say why police were after the person.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/loca ... 0326.story

The officer is in serious condition but was able to get out of the car herself after the accident.

Hoping for a quick recovery by the police officer. God bless.

I don't know that area very well, is it a bit rough? I know it's not downright dangerous, but a bit ragged perhaps?

I don't know the area myself- never been to Chicago, but in just randomly Googling Kedzie, the Kedzie station appears that it had a fatality earlier when a Korean guy was electrocuted on the third rail. Apparently, it's the only station in the U.S. wth an unprotected, unguarded, and unfenced third rail. I don't know how close that the officer came to the third rail, but it seems as if she did not make contact with it, thankfully. My specialty is crash reconstruction and I can tell you that that Police Interceptor did exactly what it's supposed to do- take all the impact forward of the passenger compartment if possible. Just an educated guess, but I think that this accident is survivable, and I'm hoping that the officer can thank Ford. With the Crown Victoria Police Interceptor, they made one hell of a police cruiser. I'm sorry that they have been discontinued.

Turns out the officer is OK, and nobody on the train was injured (at least not until the personal injury lawyers get involved). Just shows that running the gates in a bad idea, no matter what your intention.

Tadman wrote:I don't know that area very well, is it a bit rough? I know it's not downright dangerous, but a bit ragged perhaps?

I believe the home of our esteemed ex-governor, Rod "I want it all" Blago is in the area, so yeah it's a tough white-collar crime area.

Maybe the department needs an Operation Lifesaver presentation?

CHTT, I like the humor... Good one.

Looks like someone forgot the number one rule of thumb when it comes to railroads, Don't for any reason go around downed gates, the outcome may not be in your favor. As I am familiar with the area Here is a perfect example of what should not be done. Now Im not for one moment bashing the officer for trying to come to the aid of her partner but she should have waited for the gates to at least rise half way before going ahead as its one lane roadway in each direction at that crossing. She should have waited on the opposite side of the crossing in the wrong lane with her lights flashing, there by bypassing the traffic backed up in her direction of travel at the crossing while signaling traffic on the other side to wait and not cross until she clears the railroad crossing. She should have waited at least till the gates were half way up or more. Ive actually seen a state officer with his lights flashing do that before on 119th just west of I57 and its a good thing he did as we all waited for A Metra express that just flew by towards downtown the gates did not go up so he did not cross and not even 10 seconds later a suburban bound Metra express from behind the building came flying by. Its when the gates were almost up he flew over the tracks and proceeded on his way. If this officer would have waited a few extra seconds to make sure the gates start to rise up before proceeding over the railroad crossing this outcome could/would have been a lot different. If thats too much to handle maybe there should be some CPD officer retraining going on.

Tadman wrote:I don't know that area very well, is it a bit rough? I know it's not downright dangerous, but a bit ragged perhaps?

Well Tadman to answer your question the area directly surrounding the train station and to the north at least is mostly Latino (Mexican/Puerto Rican) and its not the nicest area as is a strong hold of gang activity but surely not in the top 10 worst of Chicago. Police presence in the area is very high as crime stays on the steady in the area.( note: I haven't been to the area since 2005 as my aunt moved out of the neighborhood) My aunt use to live by Albany and Argyle ( few block North/East of this station) and you could expect a cop car to pass by like pizza delivery at least every "30 mins or less".

Shows the [sad] state of things when even cops need Operation Lifesaver.

For all you armchair generals out there, if your brother or sister, mother or father were crying for help on the other side of a crossing and you thought that you could make the crossing, would you go for it or would you sit there and wait for the crossing to clear ?

3rdrail wrote:For all you armchair generals out there, if your brother or sister, mother or father were crying for help on the other side of a crossing and you thought that you could make the crossing, would you go for it or would you sit there and wait for the crossing to clear ?

I do see your point ad respect your position however, to answer your question, sorta yes, Id wait until its at least fully clear to pass. I may not wait for the gates to fully rise but at least your safety should be considered first. If the officer was a few milliseconds earlier on the gas pedal she would have been broadsided pushed and cruised between the platform and the train instead of the grossing gate and train and may not have survived the impact, What good is she to her partner then if she never arrives ?

Hate to play devils advocate here but ..

However as I know the area, where her car rested after the accident is right near the exit of the station and many times there are passengers and just people waiting in that spot to cross the tracks as you can stand in between the two tracks to wait for trains to pass from ether direction. Where the body of the crown Vic ended up is where people are well know to stand, now what if there were pedestrians there at that moment she could have easily killed 2-3 people or kids with here cruiser. Now were would the blame be for those Innocent lives lost ? As I'm guessing 3rdrail you were at one time or another a LEO in some form or fashion, has it not been determined almost unanimously that High speed chases in certain situations are not worth the risk to innocent civilian? This could almost be looked at similarly. Seriously this could have had a hundred different outcomes lets just be grateful no one was seriously injured or killed. All I'm saying is a little more common sense could have been used.

3rdrail wrote:For all you armchair generals out there, if your brother or sister, mother or father were crying for help on the other side of a crossing and you thought that you could make the crossing, would you go for it or would you sit there and wait for the crossing to clear ?

I'd wait.

BTW: Wile you're playing the "emotional response" card - whatever happened to her partner? Did they catch the person they were chasing?

3rdrail wrote:For all you armchair generals out there, if your brother or sister, mother or father were crying for help on the other side of a crossing and you thought that you could make the crossing, would you go for it or would you sit there and wait for the crossing to clear ?

I'd have to wait at least until the gates began to rise. She did her partner no good getting run over by a train. Instead she needed assistance herself.