Widow of truck driver killed in Amtrak collision files wrongful death lawsuit over "ultra-hazardous" crossing

The widow of a man killed when the truck he was driving was hit by an Amtrak train this week has filed a wrongful death lawsuit. In the suit, Erin Barton alleges that the Missouri railroad crossing where Billy Dean Barton II died was "ultra-hazardous," due in part to the defendants' failures to maintain the intersection.

The first of two defendants is Mariano Rodriguez, a manager in the BNSF Railway's engineering department. Rodriguez is in charge of ensuring "the safety, proper inspection and maintenance" of railroad crossings like the one near Mendon, the suit says. 

But the widow alleges that he failed to do so, citing the crossing's "impaired 'sight triangles,'" an "excessively small crossing angle," and other impairments, including "sloped approaches, brush, trees and vegetation blocking a full view of oncoming trains in some quadrants." She said "the surfaces of the crossing were narrow, rough and poorly maintained."