Sandwich man killed by train
by Dana Herra
A 42-year-old man was killed the
night of Aug. 5 when he was struck by a train near Latham Street in Sandwich.
Timothy A. Paradis of Sandwich was sitting between
the rails of the north track east of the Latham Street crossing about 10:30
p.m. when he was struck by an eastbound coal train, Sandwich Police Chief Rick
Olson said.
The train was stopped, and officials
with Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad notified Sandwich police, according
to a written statement from police. Paradis' body was
found about 350 feet east of the crossing, police said. He was pronounced dead
just before midnight.
The incident is the second train
fatality in DeKalb County in less than a week and the third in the county since
Jan. 1.
David E. Molitor,
24, of DeKalb was struck Saturday by a westbound Union Pacific Railroad train
about 1:20 a.m. while walking west along the south side of the railroad tracks
in the 1400 block of West Lincoln Highway. His death remains under
investigation by the county coroner's office and the DeKalb Police Department.
Attempts to contact Molitor's family have been unsuccessful.
The incident incident
is being investigated by Sandwich police and the DeKalb County Coroner's
Office, and toxicology reports are pending, Olson said. Police are also trying
to determine where Paradis was in the hours before he
died.
BNSF spokesman Joe Faust confirmed
the next day that a man was struck by a train and killed in Sandwich, but he
said he had no further information.
Paradis' death marks the 10th train fatality in DeKalb County in
the past two years, according to Operation Lifesaver, a nonprofit group
dedicated to public awareness of railroad safety. Eight of the fatalities
involved people on foot.
DeKalb County has 108 of the 8,368
public railroad crossings in Illinois, according to Operation Lifesaver, and is
among the top 20 most dangerous counties in the state for train collisions.
One of the problems is that people
walk on the tracks at places other than crossings, Operation Lifesaver Illinois
representative Chip Pew said. Being on the tracks at any other place besides a
grade crossing or crosswalks at commuter rail stations is trespassing and is
punishable by a $150 fine, Pew said.
“Anyone losing their life is a
tragedy, whether it's a pedestrian or a trespasser,” Pew said. “But when people
engage in that type of stuff, they run the risk of something bad happening,
like being hit by a train. ... The question is, how do
we resolve the trespassing problem in DeKalb County?”
It would be difficult to put up and
maintain fences along the more than 7,000 miles of railroad property in
Illinois, Pew said, but local and railroad officials throughout the state are
looking at ways to reduce the number of train fatalities.
In the city of DeKalb, education
campaigns and stepped-up enforcement of trespassing laws are under way, and the
use of physical barriers are is being investigated, Acting Fire Chief Bruce
Harrison said.
Even if an engineer sees someone on
the tracks, it can take a fully loaded train up to a mile to stop, according to
Operation Lifesaver.
“It really starts with just paying
attention. If you're not in the train's way, under no circumstances is
something bad going to happen to you,” Pew said.
Daily
Chronicle reporter Benji Feldheim
contributed to this report.