CHICAGO — The family of a Chicago police officer killed when struck by a train while pursuing a suspect last year has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against parties including Metra and the South Shore Line.
The Chicago Sun-Times reports that the family of officer Eduardo Marmolejo filed the suit over the Dec. 17, 2018, accident in which Marmolejo and another officer, Conrad Gary, were struck by a South Shore Line train while chasing a man with a gun across the Metra Electric Line tracks near the 103rd Street/Rossmoor station. [See “Suspect charged in case that led to two Chicago policemen being killed by train,” Trains News Wire, Dec. 21, 2018.]
The suit says Metra, the South Shore, the train conductors, suspect Edward R. Brown (who was later arrested), and the City of Chicago were guilty of negligence and willful and wanton conduct, claiming the city and railroad companies who erected a fence around the tracks should have known it did not completely surround the right-of-way, allowing individuals to enter the proper; that they had failed to make necessary repairs to the fence, and that the area was not properly lighted.
The city, Metra, and attorney for Brown all declined comment to the newspaper. The South Shore Line did not immediately respond to messages.
