Police To Review Video of Metra Crash; Lamplighter's Remembers 'Bogie'
Palatine Police will review video of the Metra train crash next week that killed Michael Levgard.
A makeshift memorial of flowers, a candle and an unopened beer sit close to the stool once regularly occupied by Michael "Bogie" Levgard at Lamplighter Inn in downtown Palatine.
Levgard, 64, died Tuesday when his 1999 green Mercury Sable was hit by a passing Metra train. Questions regarding Levgard's death and how the incident that took his life unfolded persist. Palatine police plan to review video from the Metra train that hit Levgard's vehicle next week.
Lamplighter regulars described "Bogie" as the kind of guy everyone knew. One aquaintance said "Bogie" was Palatine's version of Norm from Cheers.
A well-read retired mailman who completed the newspaper crossword puzzle in pen almost every day, he was a formidable opponent when playing the Buzztime trivia game at the bar.
"He didn't have a mean bone in his body," said Scott Lucier, a friend and neighbor of Levgard's. "He was the nicest guy you'd ever want to meet."
The crash happened at 7:34 a.m. as Levgard headed north on Brockway Street. A Metra train was stopped at the Palatine station and an inbound express train traveling between 50 mph and 75 mph was coming through town at the same time on another track.
Palatine police said railroad officials told them that the crossing at Brockway Street operated correctly and that the gates were down.
However, Jill Gilman Foelker, a waitress and bartender at Lamplighter, 60 N. Bothwell, said she saw her friend die and believes the gates were up. Foelker was in the front dining room of Lamplighter which faces the tracks filling condiment holders on tables.
"I heard the horn and looked up and it was right there," Foelker said, pointing west toward the crossing. "I freaked out and screamed. I ran and told [a co-worker] that someone just got hit by the train."
The train dragged Levgard's car more than 1,000 feet, finally dumping it off the tracks near Palatine Road. Foelker said it was only then, when she saw the green hood of the car, that she realized who had been hit.
Foelker said she believed that the crossing gates were above the train at the time of impact and wondered whether the train sitting at the station caused the crossing to go up even for a moment. She said the timing of the Brockway Street crossing is not always in synch with two nearby crossings.
"It's really odd that the [crossing gates] at Smith and Plum Grove can be down and Brockway won't be," Foelker said. "That happens quite a bit."
Palatine Police Cmdr. Craig Lesselyoung said that so far police have no indication there was a problem with how the crossing functioned. However, the department's accident reconstructionists working on the case plan to review video of the crash with UP Northwest officials next week.
Levgard's friends at Lamplighter say it would have been out of character for him to try and drive around crossing gates. They describe him as smart and deliberate, not fast and reckless.
"He was a turtle, I never saw Bogie move fast," Foelker said.
"He's not the kind of guy that would take that risk," said Kelly Emmons, a friend of Levgard's. "He was never in a hurry. He was a laid-back kind of guy."
One possibility is that Levgard saw the train sitting at the station, assumed the crossing gates were down for that reason, and figured it was safe to go.
"It would give me some closure to know exactly what happened," Emmons said.
Michelle
9:53 am on Friday, December 30, 2011
Yes the gates are a problem and if you are from Palatine you should know this does happen often. I have been stopped at the tracks myself when the gates go up for a few moments (enough time to get a car to pass over the tracks) and then back down because a train is parked at the station. They even did and lot of work on the corner of Palatine and Plum Grove rd to fix that intersection and it still does it. Creepy and scary that Palatine is claming that they dont know about this.
Beth
12:05 pm on Friday, December 30, 2011
I agree with you Michelle. Living in down town Palatine for 20+ years - the gates are a problem. When there is a train in the station - the gates are down at the station, but many a times, they are up at Brockway.... I know from experience as I will avoid driving across at the station, knowing that they will be "up" at Brockway. They do go up and down many times too - letting one or two cars go by. At Plum Grove and Palatine - you can literally get stopped at the light for 15 minutes with the gates going up and down. It is very scary because if indeed the gates were up at Brockway - this could have been even more tragic than it already is.
Jean
12:53 pm on Friday, December 30, 2011
Michelle and Beth, Just wanted to say that I left a similar comment just now on the original story (linked here). I have witnessed this many times as has my husband who drives our son to school daily across these tracks. It is very sad but a reminder to always exercise extra caution around train tracks.
Jill Gilman Foelker
1:16 pm on Friday, December 30, 2011
thank you brian what a wonderful article,I just hope now maybe something will get done with the timing of the gate! hopefully everyone will remember to look 3-4 time b4 crossing any railroad tracks even if the gates have been up,and wait to go across them until they are all the way up and the lights have stopped flashing!Let's slow down people, life is to short!
Let's have a great ,happy,healthy and safe new year!
Margaret
9:13 pm on Friday, December 30, 2011
Today someone told me that Bogie often went around the gates in the am, but the day of the accident the express train came through a bit earlier than usual, perhaps because of the holiday. I am not saying this is true or not, it's what I've heard. Regardless we can't change what happened, however this should teach us all to look both ways before proceeding across the train tracks. In spite of the supposed law, I still see pedestrians crossing during rush hrs (especially in the am) when gates are down & bells are ringing. Personally, I think that if police would make it a priority to ticket on a consistent basis for "any and all" who violate the laws of the rails this kind of behavior will cease. I have often seen in the rush hrs., at the intersection of Plum Grove & Palatine Rd, cars sitting on the tracks in hopes the light will turn green. I have often looked in my rearview mirror and wondered why people don't wait until they see that there is a safe place for them... I think people do this here because Palatine Rd. always gets the green light to go after trains goes through, even though people on Plum Grove have been waiting and were due to go before the trains come through. Please keep in mind that train signals for crossings could stop working for electrical, or whatever reasons. I hope we all learn from this unfortunate tragedy and look both ways before we ever cross the tracks, whether we are walking or driving. May "God Bless" Bogie,and may he rest in peace...
Lila Gibson
9:58 pm on Friday, December 30, 2011
This whole situation makes me not trust any train track at all. I don't use the intersection where this happened but I'm always crossing Quentin and Colfax, several times seeing a train coming WHILE THE GATES ARE UP!!! And I've hauled ass across the tracks but it gives me a mini heart attack whenever I see train lights as I'm crossing there.
I really hope that this accident makes the people in charge of those gates at Brockaway test and retest and test again to ensure the timing is in sync with the Plum Grove gates! To do anything less is to condemn more people to the same fate as this guy who died for no other reason than a mechanical failure! And perhaps Metra should re evaluate the whole express train thing if they are so incapable of ensuring their gates are functioning properly to warn people of an oncoming train!!!
Scott
10:01 pm on Friday, December 30, 2011
People have stated they have seen the gates go up and down *when a train is at the station*. I can see it would be possible the railroad might program the gates to go back up when it is determined there is a train at the station.
But is anyone maintaining they have seen the gates go up and down when the train(s) are moving? That would be an entirely different situation.
Lisa
9:51 am on Saturday, December 31, 2011
There are many issues here; unfortunately Bogie lost his life bringing them to our attention. It's apparent many of us know the train system in town has a problem. My hubby and a friend experienced a close call...did they report it, probably not to the authorities, but they did talk about it. That has to change so nobody else gets hurt. Hopefully this incident will bring the problems to the attention of the village and railroad system. Maybe trains shouldn't be travelling through a 'at track level railroad station' at 75 miles per hour, maybe they should remove the quiet zone (no horn) restriction, maybe they should not allow left turns into the parking lot in front of Emmetts. Yes, Bogie was on the tracks, but instead of putting all the blame on him we should focus on the circumstances which left him sitting on the tracks. Stop all the rumors and stop the speculation (stated above, 'today someone told me that Bogie went around the gates in the morning')...let's stick to the facts and fix the problem(s). I have known Bogie for over 30 years and he was a kind and gentle person. In all the time I have know him I have never heard him say a bad thing about anyone; let's give him the same courtesy during this time of mourning. We can all make his death count for something...support an effort to fix the potential for future auto/train accidents at all the train crossings in Palatine.
Bucephalus
10:14 am on Saturday, December 31, 2011
If we're going to stop the speculation, then we should also stop speculating that gates were up. Everyone here is speculating that the gates were up, that this "Bogie" fellow did not do something incredibly stupid, that UP and/or Palatine are both lying about the status of the gates.
There are two possibilities here: a man died because he made a stupid decision or a man died because equipment malfunctioned. The Palatine Police, Fire Department, Union Pacific Railroad, and one eyewitness all have said the equipment didn't malfunction. One eyewitness said it did. And yet the comments are almost 100% on the side of the malfunction. That's pure speculation right there.
A man is dead. Let's not whitewash why he did it. I've lived within a mile of these tracks my entire life. As a child my parents told me never to go around the gates. My school told me to never go around gates. My driving lessons taught me to never go around the gates. Let's withhold our judgements that he was automatically in the right.
Lisa
12:36 pm on Saturday, December 31, 2011
All I was asking is that before assigning blame please wait for an official report, and if there are problems that need correcting, this will have brough them to our attention.
Buccephalus, your pseudonym fits your input on almost every comment you post. Bucephalus - the dark, tempermental stallion.
Hiram Walker
11:11 am on Sunday, January 1, 2012
Maybe he just noticed that usually if the train was in the station, the gates usually popped up with just enough time to let one or two cars get across. That seems to be a dangerous situation. The lights should flash always if a train is in the station, the gates should always be down untill the train leaves the area. If they adjusted the gates to go up while the train was stopped, then they should change them to stay down. The Plum grove and Palatine road gates should go up if the train is loading, but the Brockway crossing is too close. And of course an express train should be able to shut all crossings at once. Maybe add a flashing blue light if the express is coming.
Scott
3:10 pm on Sunday, January 1, 2012
I would hope that if anyone ever, ever, ever saw gates up with a train moving nearby anywhere at anytime they would report it to the village, the police, and the railroad and not rest until they had an satisfactory answer.
In 35 years of driving I have never seen this happen. (But I know that doesn't make it impossible).
Ralph Reinhold
10:19 am on Monday, January 2, 2012
The lights will fail safe. They will be flashing if the train is moving or if the system fails. Unfortunately, the gates have to obey the laws of physics and can lag behind or be dislocated by someone running under them. I agree with you. If you see them not working or flashing with no train around, report it.
Ellen
5:58 pm on Thursday, January 5, 2012
Why don't they release the video? Or is that senseless since they had so much time to doctor it before the police felt the need to see it?
And, really, where are all the eyewitnesses? It was kinda a holiday for many but some people must have been back to work that day.
Didn't anyone have their iPad or iPhone camera turned on?
Bucephalus
6:21 pm on Thursday, January 5, 2012
Let me get this straight Ellen. You want them to release a horrific close-up of a person's death just so to satisfy your paranoid delusions?
As for the witnesses, it was 7:30 in the morning two days after Christmas. Most of the people who were there were on the north side of the tracks, their views obscured by the local passenger train that they were more than likely boarding. On the south side of the tracks theres a bank, parking lot, and small park immediately adjacent, none of which are high traffic places at 7:30 in the morning.
Furthermore, what kind of reaction time do you expect people to have? Even assuming you were in the car directly behind Levgard, what would you do when you saw him begin to drive around the tracks? Flip out your phone and start recording? By the time anyone knew that the train was going to hit him, it had and the whole thing was over and done with.
I'm sorry that so many people cannot accept the fact that a person did a stupid thing and tried beating a train. I'm sorry that to reconcile that fact they must delve into paranoid fantasies that Union Pacific is doctoring the engine camera footage (and data logs from the gates). I'm sorry the man is dead. But he is. The best thing that can be done now is to accept that he did something foolish and to remember, and to pass on, that you should never go around lowered gates.
Ellen
7:02 pm on Thursday, January 5, 2012
Buccephalus
You pompous ass! Do you work for UP? What is your interest in judging a man for something you didn't see him do? Why do you have a need to convince people a 74 year old retired man was in such a damn hurry on a kinda holiday morning that he would go around lowered gates to get to where???
As for a video - It would show the train, the gates and the car. I assume that they didn't have a video camera in the man's car to capture the gruesome details.
So, I'm delusional because I think a company would screw with results that would implicate them? Please, are you a tool or just a young ingorant kid playing on the computer? You sound like a Palatine Police man wanna-be.
I've witnessed a major hospital in Chicago mess with test results that would have shown them liable and I have also witnessed the Palatine Police lie on a report filed - so, unfortunately, it takes no paranoia to be highly suspicious of the UP and/or the Palatine Police.
And who can forget our fine police department that couldn't even figure out there were dead bodies in the Brown's Chicken even after one of their families had reported them missing with one of their cars still parked in the lot in the middle of the night.
Jill Gilman Foelker
7:51 pm on Thursday, January 5, 2012
ellen bravo!!!!!! I feel the system is not perfect as we do not live in a perfect world, mistakes are made , but it seems in mr buccephalus's world he is perfect and a know it all.(who can't use his real name) I really hope no one tampered with the tapes, but as in all things it is possible.As far as what i saw, is what I saw and will swear to it,I could be wrong and my mind played tricks on me,but it keeps playing over in my head and it's just the way it was the first time I saw it. what I want to see out of this horrible ,horrible tragedy is that they make these gates better , than what they are now so if any of theses different ideas of what did happen they can't anymore , Palatine is very fortunate that there was only one loss and not many.
so Mr Buccephalus you are a pompous ass !
Bucephalus
8:04 pm on Thursday, January 5, 2012
If expressing a different opinion makes me a pompous ass, then thank you, I take that as a compliment.
I'm sorry you feel the need to insult me. We disagree about this man's tragic death. However, I live in a world grounded on facts. And the fact is that the gates were down. You are right, people make mistakes. "Bogie" made a mistake going around the gate. That is what we need to take from this, the lesson that you don't go around down gates. Ever.
Bucephalus
7:59 pm on Thursday, January 5, 2012
Ellen, you didn't see it either. You are just as guilty of being presumptuous as I am. Since neither of us was there, we must take the word, and evidence, of what was there. You are inclined to believe that everyone involved in it is bound and determined to create a conspiracy just to frame a dead man of doing something stupid.
No, I am not a UP employee. Now one person, one, said she saw the gates were up. One person has come forward and said the gates were down. You aren't going to castigate that man are you? Who do we believe? You insist on a conspiracy theory. Fine, it is your right to do so.
As far as the Brown's Chicken, this is another example of your lack of credibility. Do you know how much turnover there is in a police department? On average its about 1 in 7 officers. The average tenure for a cop is around 33 months, that's less than three years. To suggest that the police department is the exact same holds about as much water as suggesting that the Chicago Cubs have a World Series capable team because they made the Series in 1945.
Why are you so bound and determined to see conspiracies and shadows everywhere? Why is it so hard to accept that this was a tragic accident in which someone did something very stupid and paid for it with his life? Let's accept the facts, accept reality, and use this lesson as a tragic reminder of why you don't drive around crossing gates.
Ellen
10:59 pm on Thursday, January 5, 2012
No, I didn't see it and that is why I presume this 74-year old to be innocent. Anyone who believes otherwise has the burden of proof. That's the way it works in this country - or, at least, that is the way it used to work in this country.
Who said the Palatine Police department is made up of exactly the same officers it was during the Brown's Chicken Masacre. I didn't say or imply that. If I implied anything at all it would have been that police officers are not the brightest of individuals. I've heard they are rejected if their intelligence level is too high on the belief they will become bored with the job too easily/ Well, if your stats are true, it seems that even the not-so-bright who get hired get bored easily and leave too. Or maybe there is some other reason they don't hang around. WTHC?
You have been watching too much TV. This is not CSI nor the FBI. It is just the Palatine Police who took their sweet time even going to look at the video and who we all know are bored with paperwork anyway, at best.
I'm sick to death of people like you who think you can try and convict someone without knowing dip about what happened just because... because what? ... because it's fun for you - like voting on American Idol. You have somehow come to believe you can decide someone is guilty of something and they are just because you think they are. And you have somehow come to believe that we care what you think.
I will not respond to you again. You are a waste of time.
Bucephalus
5:59 am on Friday, January 6, 2012
Ellen, I know you will probably not respond to me, but I'd like to ask you anyways, what proof would you need to accept the fact that he drove around the gates? You demand proof but reject the data logs of the gates, reject the videotape from the train, and reject the eyewitness who saw the gates down.
I'm not trying to convict anyone. I'm simply responding to the facts at hand. Rather than blindly deny them, I accept the facts, the data logs from the gates, the video from the engine, the eyewitness who saw the gates down. I'm just curious what level of proof you would accept.
Diane Uza
10:24 am on Wednesday, January 11, 2012
This one is for Buccephalus! I do not know your profession nor do I care. But looking back at your comments on a million different things, I must say that whatever it is you do for a living requires very little time. You seem to have a huge number of opinions on everything printed in the Patch. Regardless of the circumstances surrounding this accident, it was tragic. Maybe you should find something better to do with your time, maybe volunteer for a cancer hospice or a children's hospital!
Uno
7:06 pm on Monday, January 23, 2012
This is tragic ... my condolences to friends and family of "Bogie."
As an objective observer, comments made by Bucephalus - at least on this thread - are not out of line.
I don't know the man who got hit nor am I familiar with any historical postings by Bucephalus, but while he may have offended some people who were friends with the victim, he didn't really say anything out of line.
Probably the most insulting thing I saw was the person who made a statement about the intentional hiring of less intelligent cops. What? Now that's a stupid comment.
Uno
7:09 pm on Monday, January 23, 2012
I have been at the crossing in question when it has malfunctioned. The gates remained down - including lights and alarms - for several minutes when there was clearly no train anywhere close.