Passenger Hurt In Blue Line Train Crash Suing
CHICAGO (STMW) -- A Blue Line passenger hurt when two CTA trains collided earlier this week filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the transit agency. It is the first such suit stemming from the crash.
Thirty-three people were hurt during the Monday morning rush-hour crash when an unmanned, out-of-service train barreled into an occupied train at the Harlem station, officials said previously.
Plaintiff Kim Quatch claims she was a passenger in the occupied train, and was left with various injuries from the collision. The suit, filed against the Chicago Transit Authority, accuses the transit agency of "carelessly and negligently" operating both trains.
The CTA declined to comment on the pending litigation.
Amalgamated Transit Union Local 308 President Robert Kelly, who joined NTSB investigators at the crash scene Tuesday, previously told the Sun-Times that the train slipped past two switches and an internal device that should have stopped it before it rammed into a train loaded with some 40 passengers at the Harlem station.
Video from at least three different CTA cameras failed to detect anyone hopping on or off the out-of-service train, Forest Park Mayor Anthony Calderone said Tuesday.
"From all indications of a very thorough and comprehensive examination at the crash site by our investigators, they certainly are of the opinion that no human was on there,'' Calderone said. They are "mostly leaning toward some type of mechanical malfunction."
The investigation of the apparent runaway train has since been taken over by the National Transportation Safety Board, to which a CTA spokeswoman deferred comment Wednesday evening.
Quatch is seeking at least $50,000 in damages, the suit said.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2013. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
