Mother sues Metra after son fatally struck by train in Chicago

The mother of a 17-year-old boy who was fatally struck by a Metra Electic District train filed a lawsuit Friday against the agency claiming negligence and wrongful death.

The lawsuit, filed in Cook County Circuit Court by the boy’s mother, Felicia Roberts, named Metra, Metra Electric District and the Northeast Illinois Regional Commuter Railroad Corporation as defendants.

On June 28, 2016, Deiz Allison Jr. was walking on the tracks and was struck about 8:30 a.m. by a train near the Kensington Station at 115th and Front streets, according to the lawsuit. He was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn where he was pronounced dead an hour later.

An autopsy found he died of blunt force head injuries and his death was ruled an accident, the Cook County medical examiner’s office said.

The lawsuit claims Metra employees were careless and negligent by operating the train at an unreasonably high speed. It also alleges that Metra should have employed safeguards, since people often walk the tracks near that location.

The suit seeks more than $50,000 in damages.

Metra said it hadn’t seen the lawsuit and could not comment.