2 Trainmen, Railroad Face Charges Over Street Tie-Up

After years of prosecuting Southern Pacific Transportation Co. for lengthy train stoppages in Southeast Los Angeles, the district attorney’s office has for the first time charged employees of the railroad, accusing two trainmen of preventing emergency vehicles from reaching a pregnant woman and forcing children to climb between train cars to get to school.

Since 1984, the railroad has been charged 25 times with blocking intersections and has paid $6,750 in fines. At an August meeting of the United Neighborhoods Organization in Pico Rivera, Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner said Southern Pacific regarded the fines as a cost of doing business and threatened to prosecute company officials if the problem persisted.

The latest charges stem from a two-hour blockage of streets on Aug. 19 in the unincorporated Florence-Walnut Park area. Deputy Dist. Atty. James W. Grodin filed the charges Monday under a Public Utilities Commission code prohibiting trains from standing in intersections for more than 10 minutes except for mechanical problems or other emergencies.

Conductor, Dispatcher

Misdemeanor charges for violating that code were filed against the company, conductor William Gonsalves and dispatcher Roy McRae, Grodin said. Two additional misdemeanor counts were filed against Gonsalves for allegedly refusing requests from deputies and fire officials to clear the intersection, and another misdemeanor count was filed against McRae for allegedly failing to overrule the conductor, Grodin said.

The company faces a $1,000 fine, and the employees face $1,000 fines and one year in jail on each charge, Grodin said. Arraignment is scheduled Oct. 23 in Los Angeles Municipal Court.

S. James Otero, an attorney for Southern Pacific, declined to comment Wednesday, saying he had not seen the charges.

Officials believe this is the first time the blockages have impeded an emergency vehicle, although they had long predicted it would happen. In the case of the pregnant woman, two ambulances and a county paramedic unit were blocked at intersections by the train. Another ambulance company north of the tracks reached the woman who, it turned out, was in false labor.

Felony Charges Avoided

Grodin said that had the woman or her unborn child been hurt, he would have filed felony charges against the conductor or dispatcher. “If mother or child had died . . . it’s murder,” he said.

Thomas Hunt of the Public Utilities Commission staff said Southern Pacific has made an effort to reduce the stoppages, including restricting train length, adjusting train movement and providing crews with radios allowing inter-railroad communication.

Southern Pacific faces trial Wednesday in Whittier Municipal Court on six counts of illegally blocking intersections in Pico Rivera and Whittier earlier this year.