Families sue over crash that killed 4 Ohio teens

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ELYRIA, Ohio (AP) — Parents of three of the four teens
killed in a car crash near a northeast Ohio railroad crossing are suing
rail company CSX Transportation Inc. and local officials from
neighboring townships and counties.
The wrongful death lawsuit
filed Monday in Lorain County alleges officials didn’t properly maintain
the crossing and the road, among other accusations.
Investigators
concluded the teens’ vehicle sped over the crossing at an estimated 69
mph, went airborne and then crashed in Columbia Township in June 2012.
The crash killed the 18-year-old driver, Jeffrey Chaya, and three of his
passengers: 17-year-old Blake Bartchak, 16-year-old Lexi Poerner and
18-year-old Kevin Fox. A 17-year-old girl survived.
Chaya and Fox were supposed to graduate from high school on the day of the accident.
Families
of the three passengers who died filed the lawsuit against CSX, county
commissioners and engineers in Lorain and Medina counties and the two
townships that sit on either side of the track.
CSX declined to
comment Tuesday, as did trustees from Columbia Township in Lorain County
and Liverpool Township in Medina (meh-DY’-nuh) County. Officials for
Lorain and Medina counties couldn’t immediately be reached.
After
the crash involving the Brunswick High School students, officials
reduced the slope leading up to the crossing, lowered the speed limit
there and posted new warning signs.

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