By Matthew Waller
SAN ANGELO, Texas, Dec 7 (Reuters) – The Union Pacific
Railroad will allow attorneys representing victims of a train
crash that killed four wounded U.S. military veterans in Texas
to conduct their own tests of tracks, signals and a locomotive
horn, a lawyer for the victims said on Friday.
“They gave us what we asked for without the necessity of the
court ordering,” attorney Kevin Glasheen said.
Four veterans were killed and at least 14 people were
injured when a Union Pacific freight train slammed into a parade
float at a railroad crossing in Midland, Texas, last month.
The collision occurred at the start of a weekend of
festivities to honor veterans wounded in the Iraq and
Afghanistan wars.
Some of the veterans injured in the crash have sued Union
Pacific and Smith Industries, the Midland-based company that
owns the truck that was pulling the trailer that a dozen
war-wounded veterans and their wives were riding on.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs will also be allowed to inspect
the truck.
Union Pacific spokeswoman Raquel Espinoza said the company
would provide a locomotive to go over the crossing in question
and that it was cooperating with plaintiffs’ attorneys.
The lawsuit accuses Union Pacific of failing to provide a
safe crossing or a proper signal warning of an approaching
train. It also says the truck driver failed to exercise
reasonable care for his passengers.
Attorneys for the victims say the truck should have had 30
seconds of warning time, but only had 20. “We think that the
root cause of the accident is the short warning time,” Glasheen
said.
Espinoza said the truck had driven onto the track 8 seconds
after signals began operating, citing National Transportation
Safety Board information released late last month.
“We want to be as transparent as possible, but we still
think it’s important to focus on NTSB’s timeline,” Espinoza
said.
Midland Police has no plans to file charges against the
driver of the truck, Dale Andrew Hayden, 50, at this time, city
spokeswoman Sara Higgins said.
One of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit is Richard Sanchez, an
Army sergeant who pushed his wife to safety during the crash and
sustained a spinal cord fracture that has left him with no
feeling or movement in his legs, Glasheen said.
Police have identified the dead as Marine Chief Warrant
Officer Gary Stouffer, 37; Army Sergeant Major Lawrence Boivin,
47; Army Sergeant Major William Lubbers, 43; and Army Sergeant
Joshua Michael, 34.
(Reporting By Matthew Waller; Editing by Mary Wisniewski and
Xavier Briand)
