(The following story by Bill Rodgers appeared on the Tribune Chronicle website on May 15.)
NEWTON FALLS, Ohio — As the Ohio State Highway Patrol investigates the train wreck that crushed a Newton Township police cruiser, the Newton Falls police chief is investigating his dispatch’s handling of the situation.
Dispatchers were not told the cruiser was parked on train tracks on Miller Graber Road, according to radio transmissions, but they were told almost 13 minutes before the crash that an officer was chasing suspects along the tracks. They were asked to call the train company and notify workers that people were on the tracks.
Falls police Chief Robert Carlson said this concerns him.
‘‘Dispatch basically is a lifeline for the officer out there,’’ Carlson said.
Carlson qualified the statement by saying even if the train was notified, there was not a sign along the tracks that said where Miller Graber Road was, and it could take up to two miles before the train stopped completely.
The coal train began braking about half mile before the intersection because the crew noticed the police cruiser’s overhead lights, but it was not enough time to stop, Carlson said.
His investigation will take about two days.
According to a tape of the radio calls leading up to the wreck, officer Tom Colosimo told dispatchers at 10:50 p.m. that he was on the train tracks near Miller Graber Road, but does not specify that his cruiser is parked on the tracks.
He also did not request that the trains be stopped, but instead Colosimo asks dispatchers to call the CSX train company to tell them he is on the tracks and there are people out there.
In his next message, Colosimo is breathing heavily because he is in a foot chase with three other people.
A dispatcher did not call CSX for another 12 minutes, according to Carlson. The dispatcher was on the phone with the railway when the coal train crashed into the cruiser.
Before that, Colosimo and officers with Newton Falls, Lordstown, Braceville and the Trumbull County Sheriff’s Office were in the area searching for three people who were suspected of stealing copper wiring from CSX. No one was on the tracks at the time of the accident, according to Jim Luonuansuu, a police spokesman from Newton Township.
Luonuansuu said Colosimo stopped his cruiser as soon as he reached the group, which happened to be in the path of the train coming several minutes down the track.
‘‘It was a split-second decision, I believe. I think he pulled up there and stopped to question them. And then they just took off,’’ Luonuansuu said.
A woman’s voice can be heard on the tape as Colosimo initially radios in. There was a shift change at 11 p.m. and Colosimo spoke with a man when he asks at 11:02 p.m. whether anyone called CSX to stop the trains. The other dispatcher said no one did.
‘‘I advised I was on the tracks,’’ Colosimo tells the dispatcher.
Less than a minute later a monotone voice of another officer says: ‘‘The train hit the cruiser.’’
Staff at CSX’s main headquarters in Florida said they planned to return a call seeking comment, but did not do so immediately.
The wreck could have been horrific, Luonuansuu said. Had a suspect been in the back of the cruiser, there would have been no way out.
After the crash, a Lordstown officer and a bystander ran up to the vehicle to check if anyone was inside.
Luonuansuu said he did not know if CSX would have stopped the trains based on Colosimo’s message that people were on the train tracks.
Luonuansuu said there was no investigation of Colosimo’s actions following the wreck. Colosimo, who was not injured, has taken a few days off work but the time off is not due to an administrative action.
Luonuansuu said the township’s investigation into the copper thefts is ongoing.