SUV hits train; woman injured
Cindy Leise | The Chronicle-Telegram
WELLINGTON TWP. — A Parma woman was seriously injured when her sports utility vehicle hit the side of a train Sunday afternoon at the Quarry Road railroad crossing south of state Route 18.
Linda Lishchuk-Hupert, 55, was taken by helicopter to MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland where she was listed in fair condition late Sunday.
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| COURTESY JEFF GARN |
| Emergency personnel respond to a car-train collision Sunday in Wellington Township. A Parma woman hurt in the crash was hospitalized with broken bones. |
Lishchuk-Hupert broke both ankles and an arm in the accident, according to her brother, George Lishchuk, also of Parma.
He said he was talking to her on her cell phone and the phone suddenly went dead. She called him back a short time later, saying she had hit a train.
“I thought she was joking,” Lishchuk said.
The conductor of the train estimated Lishchuk-Hupert was driving 20 to 25 mph at the time of the 12:39 p.m. crash, according to the Ohio Highway Patrol.
The crossing is marked with crossbucks and a yield sign, and the speed limit on Quarry Road is 55 mph, said Dispatcher Jennifer Hovinetz.
The conductor of the train told Trooper Brad Fiala that the train was going 32 mph in a 40 mph zone, she said.
“The train operator said he was blowing his whistle,” Hovinetz said.
The airbags in Lishchuk-Hupert’s 2002 Ford Escape deployed, and she was wearing a seat belt, according to the patrol.
Despite her injuries, Lishchuk-Hupert was calm and was talking on her cell phone to a 911 operator and her relatives, according to
Matt Fridenstine, who was the second motorist on the scene.
Fridenstine, operator of North Coast Wireless Communications, said his partner, Jeff Garn, snapped photos using his cell phone.
The pair saw the train slow from about a half-mile away but did not see the impact, Fridenstine said.
Lishchuk said his sister had been doing end of the season cleaning at the UAYA Chortycia campgrounds on Bursley Road before the crash occurred.
Contact Cindy Leise at 653-6250 or cleise@chroniclet.com.
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Filed by Cindy Leise | The Chronicle-Telegram September 10th, 2007 in Top Stories. Popularity: 4% |
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Comments
Comment from
Nancy Emery
September 10, 2007, 10:45 am
Sorry to read of another accident at that crossing, but what I don’t understand, besides the lady being on the cell phone, why people don’t know that RR signs before RR crossings is the same as a stop sign. Seems like every time someone gets hit by a train, or that someone hits a train, it’s always the train’s (engineer) fault, then it lands in court with a law suit against the RR. Too bad people don’t have more respect for trains.
Comment from
Robert Gift, Denver, CO USA
September 10, 2007, 1:10 pm
Did she drive into the side of the train already traveling through the grade crossing?
We must be so careful talking on cell phones.
Glad she was wearing seat-belts.
Maybe best to set the cell phone in one’s lap when approaching grade crossings.
Sounds like she handled the situation very well.
Hope she heals well and soon.
Comment from
Ric Keller
September 10, 2007, 4:30 pm
I am sorry about this accident , I am glad she is OK!! However we will continue to see these things happen as long as people are being distracted by cell phones in use while driving..
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