iPod probably kept bike rider from hearing train

A 42-year-old Campton Township bicyclist was in a "power stride" and likely listening to an iPod when he was hit by a train and killed at a crossing in Sycamore last month.

A Kane County coroner's jury Wednesday ruled that Gerardo Turrubiartes died accidentally at 5:35 p.m. Sept. 9 when he was struck and killed by a freight train going 37 mph at the Engel Road crossing.

"(Turrubiartes) was in a power stride on his bicycle, not even looking at the train," Kane County Detective Cheryl Lyne said. "It appeared to the conductor he didn't even know the train was there."

Lyne testified the conductor told her he was blowing the train whistle.

Investigators recovered an iPod from the scene. "The belief is he was (listening to it), which would be the only reason to account for the fact that he did not see the train," Deputy Coroner Christine Thrun said.

Toxicology tests showed Turrubiartes' system did not contain alcohol, drugs or prescription medication. He was killed instantly by the impact, officials said.

The crossing at Engel over the Canadian National Railroad does not have warning lights or gates, just a sign that marks the tracks.

Thrun said she spoke with Turrubiartes' widow, Rose, who said he was in a "very good mood" that morning after the couple went to church. He decided to go for a ride because the weather was good and he needed to log miles for his cycling club.

Rose Turrubiartes filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the railroad last month. She seeks a jury trial and has ordered records from the train's "black box" and other evidence be preserved.

She seeks damages of more than $50,000 for the death of her husband, a computer engineer and father of a 7-year-old girl and 4-month-old son, court records show. Her next court date is Nov. 29.

Turrubiartes was the second person killed at the crossing in the last decade.

On Aug. 23, 1999, Floyd Stamper II, a concrete finisher from Sycamore, was killed by a train as he tried to cross at Engel, records show.

His widow, Marcy Holmberg-Stamper sued in 2002, charging the Illinois Central Railroad/Canadian National Railroad was negligent because it failed to provide gates, lights, signals, bells and other warnings at the crossing, and that the conductor didn't blow the train horn, the suit states.

Stamper's case was set for a jury trial this week in Kane County, but it was delayed until April 28.