Van Overturns on MetroLink Tracks
By Carolyn P. Smith, Belleville News-Democrat, Ill.
Aug. 22–EAST ST. LOUIS — A 71-year-old Caseyville man who was driving an Alternative Transportation System van with four disabled students on Tuesday told police he blacked out while driving, causing his van to go airborne and land on the MetroLink tracks.
The accident took place about 9 a.m. on Illinois 111 south of Interstate 64. The passengers and the driver sustained minor bruises, bus company officials said. They were treated at Kenneth Hall Regional Hospital.
East St. Louis police officer DeAngelo Franklin said the driver, whose name was not available, was traveling at a high rate of speed. The driver received a citation for failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident, negligent operation of a vehicle and improper lane usage.
The driver could not be reached for comment.-
MetroLink service in both directions was disrupted for about an hour, and MetroLink passengers were transferred to buses while crews worked to remove the van from the tracks.
The tracks were not damaged, Metro spokeswoman Dianne H. Williams said.
Sheila Webb said her 25-year-old son, Valentino Webb, was on the bus.-
Webb said her son is autistic and doesn’t talk. She said she is very angry with the way the bus company handled the accident.
“I was not able to get any information about the accident all day long or find out whether my son was injured,” she said.
Webb said she did not know her son’s condition or what hospital he was taken to until he arrived at her Cahokia residence at 11 a.m.
The company issued a statement saying, “Following standard Illinois Department of Transportation procedures, the ATS driver was taken by East St. Louis police to Kenneth Hall Regional Hospital for drug and alcohol testing. The cause of the accident is under investigation by the East St. Louis Police Department, and no further details about that investigation are available at this time.”
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