Max
10-05-2003, 12:05 PM
Train engineer, van driver take stand in trial
By Martha Deller
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
NBC 5
On Dec. 4, 2001, a 102-car train struck Patricia Lowery's van, pictured, at the County Road 404 crossing in Alvarado. Lowery was left paralyzed, her son was killed and her daughter suffered minor injuries in the crash.
CLEBURNE - Patricia Lowery will never remember details of the train-van collision that killed her 9-year-old son and left her paralyzed 21 months ago.
But Union Pacific engineer Jackie Joe Gregor will never forget.
On Dec. 4, 2001, Gregor was at the controls of the two-engine, 102-car train that struck Lowery's van at the Johnson County Road 404 crossing, the middle of three crossings in Alvarado.
Lowery and Gregor were key witnesses Friday, the 10th day of a trial involving Lowery's family, Union Pacific and Trinity Materials, which leased a side track near the main track where the fatal crash occurred. The family is seeking $80 million in actual and punitive damages from the two companies. Lowery, the final witness out of 15 called by her attorneys, testified that she remembers turning off the Interstate 35W service road onto County Road 404, where trucks were unloading materials from rail cars parked on the Trinity tracks. The crossing is near her Alvarado home and also her parents' home.
Lowery testified that she approached the Trinity tracks slowly because the 22 rail cars were parked there, which was more than usual, and they blocked her view of the main track about 22 to 24 feet away.
"I can remember coming up to the first set of tracks, and I could not see around the rail cars to the left," she said. "I know I looked to the left. I'm going to assume I looked to the right."
Lowery said the reason she assumes that she looked to the right is because her daughter, Bianca, said so in a letter about the accident that was read in court Thursday. Bianca, now 13, was in the van but was not seriously injured.
Lowery said she remembers nothing between stopping at the track and awaking three weeks later to find herself paralyzed with a spinal cord injury.
She said she vaguely remembers a conversation with her husband, James, about the funeral for their 9-year-old son, Conner.
"I was trying to explain to him that I wanted a single red rose placed in Conner's casket just from me, but he thought I meant I wanted that instead of the spray of roses," Lowery said tearfully.
"I couldn't understand why I couldn't go to his funeral. I thought all I had to do is get in a wheelchair and go. I didn't understand I was hurt so bad."
Gregor, a Union Pacific employee for seven years who became a licensed engineer in April 2001, vividly recalls the fatal collision.
He testified that he and a conductor had delivered one train from Egan to Fort Worth and were taking a second train from Grandview to Fort Worth when he approached the first Alvarado crossing about 3:50 p.m.
Gregor said he pulled a knob to activate the train horn as he approached the crossing at County Road 401. He said he continued to sound the horn because the 401 crossing is only a quarter mile south of the County Road 404 crossing.
Patricia and Bianca Lowery both testified that they never heard the train horn before the accident. But Gregor said he never stopped blowing the horn until after the collision, when he pushed the lever to turn it off.
As he approached the 404 crossing, Gregor testified, he looked for a loading person that was usually there unloading material from rail cars parked at the Trinity track.
"I really can't see that middle crossing until I see that loader," he said. "As I got closer, I could see the guy on the loader. We made eye contact. He had his hands over his ears as I was blowing the horn."
Gregor said he was eight or nine train-car lengths -- a train car is about 50 feet long -- from the crossing when he saw Lowery's van pull onto the Trinity track. He said he was not concerned about a collision because the van appeared to be stopped on the Trinity track as he got closer to the crossing.
"I could see the side of the woman driver's face very clearly," he said. "There was nothing obstructing her view. She wasn't looking at me, but it appeared the van had stopped a good 15 feet or more away from my line."
Gregor said he checked the signal light, which was yellow indicating that he was approaching a crossing. He saw no traffic to his left and then looked back to his right, he said.
"When I looked out my window, all of a sudden, the car was in front of me," Gregor said. "I said a word I won't repeat and put the train in emergency."
Pressed by Union Pacific attorney John Proctor for more details, Gregor recalled that the van driver's door was just going onto the east rail of the main line when he noticed it from the right side of the train where the engineer sits.
"She appeared to accelerate," he said. "She was looking at me and from the expression on her face, she appeared to be yelling or screaming. I also saw a boy in the back seat."
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Martha Deller, (817) 390-7857 mdeller@star-telegram.com
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http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/6932294.htm
By Martha Deller
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
NBC 5
On Dec. 4, 2001, a 102-car train struck Patricia Lowery's van, pictured, at the County Road 404 crossing in Alvarado. Lowery was left paralyzed, her son was killed and her daughter suffered minor injuries in the crash.
CLEBURNE - Patricia Lowery will never remember details of the train-van collision that killed her 9-year-old son and left her paralyzed 21 months ago.
But Union Pacific engineer Jackie Joe Gregor will never forget.
On Dec. 4, 2001, Gregor was at the controls of the two-engine, 102-car train that struck Lowery's van at the Johnson County Road 404 crossing, the middle of three crossings in Alvarado.
Lowery and Gregor were key witnesses Friday, the 10th day of a trial involving Lowery's family, Union Pacific and Trinity Materials, which leased a side track near the main track where the fatal crash occurred. The family is seeking $80 million in actual and punitive damages from the two companies. Lowery, the final witness out of 15 called by her attorneys, testified that she remembers turning off the Interstate 35W service road onto County Road 404, where trucks were unloading materials from rail cars parked on the Trinity tracks. The crossing is near her Alvarado home and also her parents' home.
Lowery testified that she approached the Trinity tracks slowly because the 22 rail cars were parked there, which was more than usual, and they blocked her view of the main track about 22 to 24 feet away.
"I can remember coming up to the first set of tracks, and I could not see around the rail cars to the left," she said. "I know I looked to the left. I'm going to assume I looked to the right."
Lowery said the reason she assumes that she looked to the right is because her daughter, Bianca, said so in a letter about the accident that was read in court Thursday. Bianca, now 13, was in the van but was not seriously injured.
Lowery said she remembers nothing between stopping at the track and awaking three weeks later to find herself paralyzed with a spinal cord injury.
She said she vaguely remembers a conversation with her husband, James, about the funeral for their 9-year-old son, Conner.
"I was trying to explain to him that I wanted a single red rose placed in Conner's casket just from me, but he thought I meant I wanted that instead of the spray of roses," Lowery said tearfully.
"I couldn't understand why I couldn't go to his funeral. I thought all I had to do is get in a wheelchair and go. I didn't understand I was hurt so bad."
Gregor, a Union Pacific employee for seven years who became a licensed engineer in April 2001, vividly recalls the fatal collision.
He testified that he and a conductor had delivered one train from Egan to Fort Worth and were taking a second train from Grandview to Fort Worth when he approached the first Alvarado crossing about 3:50 p.m.
Gregor said he pulled a knob to activate the train horn as he approached the crossing at County Road 401. He said he continued to sound the horn because the 401 crossing is only a quarter mile south of the County Road 404 crossing.
Patricia and Bianca Lowery both testified that they never heard the train horn before the accident. But Gregor said he never stopped blowing the horn until after the collision, when he pushed the lever to turn it off.
As he approached the 404 crossing, Gregor testified, he looked for a loading person that was usually there unloading material from rail cars parked at the Trinity track.
"I really can't see that middle crossing until I see that loader," he said. "As I got closer, I could see the guy on the loader. We made eye contact. He had his hands over his ears as I was blowing the horn."
Gregor said he was eight or nine train-car lengths -- a train car is about 50 feet long -- from the crossing when he saw Lowery's van pull onto the Trinity track. He said he was not concerned about a collision because the van appeared to be stopped on the Trinity track as he got closer to the crossing.
"I could see the side of the woman driver's face very clearly," he said. "There was nothing obstructing her view. She wasn't looking at me, but it appeared the van had stopped a good 15 feet or more away from my line."
Gregor said he checked the signal light, which was yellow indicating that he was approaching a crossing. He saw no traffic to his left and then looked back to his right, he said.
"When I looked out my window, all of a sudden, the car was in front of me," Gregor said. "I said a word I won't repeat and put the train in emergency."
Pressed by Union Pacific attorney John Proctor for more details, Gregor recalled that the van driver's door was just going onto the east rail of the main line when he noticed it from the right side of the train where the engineer sits.
"She appeared to accelerate," he said. "She was looking at me and from the expression on her face, she appeared to be yelling or screaming. I also saw a boy in the back seat."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Martha Deller, (817) 390-7857 mdeller@star-telegram.com
email this | print this | license this | reprint this
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/6932294.htm