(The following story by Brad Kadrich appeared on the Observer website on July 20, 2009.)
DETROIT — The 2006 Ford Fusion driven by Daniel Broughton in the Amtrack collision at the Hannan Road railroad crossing July 9 reached speeds as high as 68 mph as it approached the crossing, according to information retrieved from the car’s Powertrain Control Module.
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The car’s “black box” also showed Broughton, the 19-year-old Woodhaven man who was driving the Fusion at the time of the accident, slowed to approximately 30 mph as he approached the crossing just prior to the crash, Canton Township Police confirmed Monday.
Five people, including Broughton, were killed when he tried to beat the oncoming passenger train bound for Chicago shortly after noon.
Canton Police retrieved the black box after obtaining a warrant Thursday. The warrant became necessary, police explained, once the car was removed from the scene. Because of the sophisticaion of the equipment, police said, an outside consultant was brought in to help police decipher the information.
A nearby business’s video security camera recorded the crash and shows Broughton did not try to stop and skirted past a white SUV waiting at the crossing. The train crossing’s safety arm was lowered and its alarms and sirens were flashing at the time of the crash, witnesses said.
“When you place it in reference to the video, (Broughton) is coming northbound on Hannan Road, so he’s accelerating up the road,” said Canton Police Sgt. Mark Gajeski. “He sees the car stopped in front of him and he has to slow down to get around it.”
The speed limit in that area, Gajeski said, is 45 mph.
The accident remains under investigation by the department’s Accident Investigation Unit. Gajeski said police hoped to have the investigation completed by the end of the month. Investigators, he said, are still waiting on reports from the Wayne County Medical Examiner, including toxicology reports that would tell whether drugs or alcohol were a factor.
Gajeski said previously there was “nothing at the scene” to indicate that to be the case.