A spate of light rail train accidents in St. Paul and Minneapolis have resulted in two deaths and critical injuries to a third person caught up in busy intersections within the mass transit system.
The Metro Transit trains are operated by government-employed operators who are trained to stop for pedestrians or bicyclists when they are in the way. But in the course of just seven days, St. Paul’s green line train was involved in two collisions with pedestrians while the Minneapolis blue line train hit and killed a bicyclist from Minneapolis.
According to accounts on Twitter and Facebook, the bicyclist was a safety-minded bicyclist who had warned others in the Twin Cities cycling community about the dangers of light rail traffic in Minneapolis. Even before he was killed last week at the busy 46th Street crossing, he had been involved in a serious scrape with a train at that very intersection. He was an involved member of Hope Community Church in downtown Minneapolis and his loved ones are planning a service at that church on December 19 to celebrate his life.
The losses have been devastating to family members in all three cases. In St. Paul, severe injuries were dealt to a pedestrian who was on foot at the Snelling Avenue platform along University Avenue when he was struck. He was taken to Regions Hospital, a Level One emergency trauma center. In the second green line accident, Metro Transit identified the victim as a 67-year-old woman. She was on foot when she was struck and killed along University Avenue where it crosses Hamline Avenue. Her was the third such death involving a green line Metro Transit train since the Metropolitan Council opened the light rail corridor in June 2014.
Minnesota isn’t the only place dealing with fatal pedestrian and bicyclist accidents involving light rail. Five such deaths have been reported within the Sacramento light rail system and Charlotte’s light rail trains also have caused deaths. Tampa, too, has seen more than its share of light rail fatal crashes. Our law firm represents victims who die or are critically injured in transportation accidents. Crucial to any pedestrian death or bicycle death lawsuit that we file is an independent investigation of what happened. For instance, attorneys Fred Pritzker and Eric Hageman won $2,400,000 from a Minnesota jury on behalf of next of kin for a woman who was run over by a semi-truck while riding her bicycle. The initial police review of the fatal crash had placed blame on the cyclist, but Fred and Eric proved to the jury that the semi driver was negligent in how he operated the vehicle while making a right-hand turn. The cyclist on the right side of his truck and the driver would have avoided her if he was operating safely. Fred and Eric were named attorneys of the year in relation to that case by magazine Minnesota Lawyer.
Even when initial factors at first blush make it seem like a case is difficult if not impossible to win, independent review of the facts — including the Metro Transit driver’s attention to safety — can lead to millions of dollars in compensation for the victims and their next of kin.
