Arlington Heights man dies after car struck by Metra train

An Arlington Heights man is dead after a Metra train struck his vehicle Thursday afternoon west of downtown Arlington Heights, officials said.

The inbound train struck the Mercedes sedan just after 2 p.m. where the tracks intersect with Euclid Avenue, according to Metra spokeswoman Katie Dahlstrom. The train pushed the vehicle until stopping near the intersection with Ridge Avenue, she said.

The Cook County medical examiner's office on Thursday evening identified the driver as Leonard Jennings Hauskey, 86.

No one else was in the car, Dahlstrom said.

Metra police were leading the investigation, with support from Arlington Heights police, who managed traffic control near the scene. Arlington Heights and Rolling Meadows firefighters also were dispatched to the crash with entrapment.

At least 40 passengers were onboard Train No. 6444, headed to downtown Chicago on the Union Pacific Northwest Line. Among them were sisters

Maddison and MacKenzie Miller of Denver, Colorado, who were sitting in one of the middle train cars when the conductor sounded the horn and hit the brakes, causing passengers to lunge forward.

"When he was blowing the horn and then we felt that impact, I knew something wasn't right," Maddison said.

The train was scheduled to stop at the Arlington Heights station at 2:09 p.m. and arrive at the Ogilvie Transportation Center at 3 p.m. The train was stopped during the crash investigation, but by 4 p.m., inbound and outbound trains were cleared to proceed through the area at restricted speeds, officials said. Those trains operated with extensive delays throughout the afternoon.

Northwest Highway was closed between Euclid and Chestnut avenues during the investigation.

• Daily Herald staff photographers Joe Lewnard and Mark Welsh contributed to this report.