A Wood Dale printing company employee was struck and killed by a Metra train Thursday morning while crossing the railroad tracks on a shortcut to the plant, where he had hoped to ask his employer for additional work, authorities and family members said.
David Meza, 49, of the 400 block of North Cedar Street is the fourth pedestrian killed by a Metra train in little more than a month. The first three deaths, of children younger than 16, spurred Metra to launch a safety campaign.
The 10:10 a.m. incident occurred west of Wood Dale Road near a bend in the tracks.
“We can’t emphasize enough the importance of crossing the tracks only at approved locations,” Wood Dale Deputy Police Chief Frank Biniewicz said. “The events of recent weeks emphasize a person’s exposure to danger in crossing tracks between signals.”
Meza was walking to the Continental Web Press plant at 1430 Industrial Drive, Itasca, on the north side of the Metra tracks about a mile from his home and immediately north of the Wood Dale-Itasca border, police said. He crossed the tracks at the rear of a shopping center at 401 W. Irving Park Rd., Biniewicz said.
Meza, a native of Durango, Mexico, usually caught a ride to work with his brother, who is employed at the same plant, relatives said. But Thursday was not a regular work day for him. He was going to try to arrange extra hours.
“Today was his day off but he decided to go in anyway, and that’s how it happened,” said his brother, Hector, fighting back tears.
The DuPage County coroner will decide whether Meza’s death was accidental or intentional, but Biniewicz said information from family members gave no indication Meza would intentionally step in front of the train.
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The tracks approach the scene of the incident on a gradual curve from the southwest, and police believe Meza might not have noticed the approaching eastbound train because of the bend, Biniewicz said.
That curve also made it impossible for the 30-year veteran engineer of Train No. 2230 to warn Meza, Metra officials said. The engineer had sounded the train horn when he passed through a grade crossing about a half-mile west of the accident site, but didn’t see Meza until it was too late, officials said.
“The way this incident occurred, with the bend in the track, the engineer had absolutely no time to respond,” said Dan Schnolis, a Metra spokesman. Schnolis did not know how fast the Chicago-bound train was traveling on the Milwaukee District West Line. It left Elgin at 9:30 a.m. and was scheduled to arrive at Union Station in downtown Chicago at 10:52 a.m., he said.
Instead, the train was canceled and its 464 passengers were transferred to another train. Four other trains were delayed from 30 to 80 minutes, officials said.
The engineer who was at the controls underwent grief counseling, Schnolis said.
Meanwhile, at Meza’s home, where he lived with his brother, several relatives gathered to remember him. His daughter, Olga, 27, said her father brought his family to the United States when she was about 5. Though he and his wife divorced many years ago, Meza was active in his two children’s lives when they were growing up in Chicago, family members said.
Meza had lived with his brother for about four years and had worked for Continental Web Press in the shipping and receiving department for about three years.
“He was always a happy person,” said his son, also named David, 25. “He cared a lot about other people. If I had a bad day, he would always notice. He would spend all his money trying to make me happy.”
“He was a wonderful brother and a father, and all the family loved him so much,” Olga said, adding that his parents were notified in Durango.
“We had to tell them gently, because they’re old and they won’t take this so well,” said Olga, who was in tears. “We’ll take him back to Mexico. We’ll bury him there.”