SUIT IN DEADLY CROSSING CRASH.Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer PALMDALE - A wrongful-death lawsuit charges that the Palmdale Boulevard railroad railroad or railway, form of transportation most commonly consisting of steel rails, called tracks, on which freight cars, passenger cars, and other rolling stock are drawn by one locomotive or more. crossing puts motorists at risk of being trapped on the tracks waiting for a traffic signal to change. The lawsuit against Metrolink, the city and Caltrans was filed by the family of 75-year-old Claudia Braddock, who died last May when a Metrolink train slammed into her station wagon as it sat stuck in Palmdale Boulevard traffic. ``Ms. Braddock's death was a terrible tragedy that could have and should have been avoided,'' said the family attorney, Douglas Spickard, in a statement. Braddock's 1994 Volvo station wagon was stopped on Palmdale Boulevard at Sierra Highway Sierra Highway is a road in Southern California, United States. It runs from Tunnel Station near the north limit of the City of Los Angeles, where it intersects with San Fernando Road and Foothill Boulevard, as well as Interstate 5, and continues north to Mojave, mostly paralleling , headed east, when the crossing arms came down for an approaching northbound north·bound adj. Going toward the north. northbound Adjective going towards the north Adj. 1. Metrolink train, officials said. Her station wagon was stopped across both sets of tracks, officials said. Trapped between cars, Braddock honked her horn frantically fran·tic adj. 1. Highly excited with strong emotion or frustration; frenzied: frantic with worry. 2. and tried to move the car back and forth before the train hit it, witnesses said immediately after the crash. The train, moving at a speed estimated at 50 mph, knocked the Volvo about 200 feet into a drainage ditch, witnesses said. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Braddock's siblings siblings npl (formal) → frères et sœurs mpl (de mêmes parents) , Williette Arrington, James Brady and Myrtle Fisher. The defendants include Metrolink, Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Caltrans, Palmdale, the train engineer and a Palmdale woman whose vehicle was behind Braddock's, the lawsuit said. Attorneys for the city of Palmdale could not be reached for comment. Metrolink officials said they generally don't comment on pending litigation An action brought in court to enforce a particular right. The act or process of bringing a lawsuit in and of itself; a judicial contest; any dispute. When a person begins a civil lawsuit, the person enters into a process called litigation. . Caltrans Deputy Chief Counsel David Simmes said he had not seen the lawsuit and couldn't comment on it. ``If it is a railroad crossing it would be in the jurisdiction of the railroad,'' Simmes said. The amount of damages has not been fully determined but damages to the surviving heirs were in excess of $1 million for each person, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. a claim contained in the lawsuit. According to witnesses, the driver of the vehicle directly behind Braddock had an opportunity to move her car to allow Braddock to move off the tracks but didn't, Spickard said in his statement. Spickard also said the engineer failed to take any action to slow or stop the train prior to the crash ``despite a straight track and what should have been an unobstructed view of Ms. Braddock's vehicle stopped on the tracks.'' Karen Maeshiro, (661) 267-5744 karen.maeshiro(at)dailynews.com |
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