Thursday, February 7, 2013
The wrongful-death lawsuit alleges that the Gilbert Avenue crossing gates trapped the 57-year-old Chicago woman's car on the tracks, leading to the crash.
A lawsuit filed Wednesday seeking more than $150,000 accuses Metra and the Village of La Grange of liability in the Feb. 2012 train-versus-car crash that killed a 57-year-old Chicago woman, the The Doings La Grange reports. According to the paper, the administrator to the estate of Maria G. Hinojosa is claiming negligence in the operation of the crossing gates and signals at Gilbert Avenue, where Hinojosa's car was struck by an eastbound Metra train. The suit claims that Hinojosa's car was trapped between the warning gates, the paper said. Such a claim contradicts a finding by the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office that the crash was an intentional suicide. The train's conductor, who the paper said is also blamed in the lawsuit, has …
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Explaining death to a child is never easy, but especially fraught for parents of children with autism.
Last fall I wrote about parenting advice columns and how foreign and inapplicable the content was for special needs parents. But even when advice is supposedly specifically tailored to parents of children with autism, it can be laughably off-base. Take this article about explaining the death of a loved one to a child with autism. This one hit close to home because my father died about a year and a half ago. Also just recently my daughter’s BFF Grace, who is also on the autism spectrum, experienced death for the first time. In her case, it was her elderly neighbor Harry whom she barely had any contact with except for when he chased her away from his bird bath. But that didn’t stop her from becoming completely obsessed with his sudden …
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office has ruled the death of a Chicago woman whose vehicle was struck by a Metra train on Friday in La Grange, a suicide. La Grange police say they are still investigating.
The Cook Country Medical Examiner's Office has ruled the death of a Chicago woman whose vehicle was struck by a Metra work train on Friday evening a suicide. Maria Hinojosa, 57, of the 3000 block of Keeler Ave. in Chicago, was killed when a Metra train carrying crew members, but no passengers, struck her vehicle while it was stopped on the tracks at the Gilbert Avenue crossing in La Grange at about 5:45 p.m. on Feb. 10. La Grange police said on Monday that the accident was still under investigation and they did not yet know why her car was on the tracks. Police Chief Michael Holub said the car did not appear to be stuck on the tracks, but that the investigation was ongoing. "I’m very surprised [the medical examiner's office] has made …
Teri D. Springer
6:00 pm on Monday, February 11, 2013
"when you do get a meritless case dismissed, you have to savour it like fine wine." This is why I could never be an attorney....I tend to be very black and white...and, as one of my elementary school teachers once noted, my sword of justice and fairness is swift.... more ›