Woman Killed, Man Injured When Freight Train Hits Car In Melrose Park
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A woman was killed and a man was injured when a car drove around crossing gates and into the path of a moving freight train in Melrose Park early Friday morning.
The car was headed south on 19th Avenue near Main Street in Melrose Park around 2 a.m., when the driver went around the crossing gates, according to Maywood Fire Chief Craig Bronaugh.
An eastbound Union Pacific freight train slammed into the car, pushing it a half mile down the tracks before coming to a stop at 15th and Railroad avenues in Maywood, Bronaugh said.
A police officer who responded to the crash was able to pull the male driver out of the car. The man was taken to Loyola University Medical Center. Bronaugh said the driver was conscious at the time, but his condition was not available Friday morning.
Fire crews freed a female passenger from the car, but she was unresponsive, and was pronounced dead at the scene. The Cook County Medical Examiner's office identified the woman as 21-year-old Jocelynn Morales, of Bellwood.
No one on the train was injured in the crash.
At least three Metra Union Pacific West trains which use the same stretch of tracks were delayed Friday morning after the crash.