I will not comment on this incident, as I was not there, and I still don't have all the facts yet.
However, this relates to an incident I had on the way home one late night recently in regards to the ignorance of the police, especially in little towns like this one. I was comming down IL. Rt 29, south through Athens, IL and the gates were stuck down at the UP Peoria Sub. Road X-ing. The MASPR had just passed this location and was gone for at least 10 minutes, cars were stopped on either side of the X-ing. There was an Athens Police Car parked near the signal bungalow. When I stopped, I got on my phone and called UP Signal Ops Toll Free Number and reported these gates down, with no trains or equipment anywhere near the X-ing. I told them that the MASPR had just cleared Northward within the last 10 minutes and was gone from this area. They said they had not received any report about it, but would let UP Dispatcher 28 know and immediately dispatch Signal Maintainer Rick Litz to the location. I then walked up the Police Car, introduced myself and told the officer that I had just called in the stuck down gates to the UP Railroad and that a Maintainer would be down in an hour to correct the problem. The young Officer, was very pissed off about the whole thing, but was kind of releived when I told him that I made all the necessary calls a minute earlier about the problem. However, He still seemed kind of pissed off that I knew who to call and what to do, and he had no clue, you could see it written plain as night on his face. All he said was,"Yeah, the train is long gone and these gates are still down, it is stupid!" Then I told him that I was not from around there and asked if there was a way to get around. He then said, "Well, just do what everybody else does, just go around them." I said, "Well sir, even though there is no train there, and it seems the X-ing Warning is falsely activated, with that solid Red light lit on the end of each gate, it is the same as a Red Stop Light, and if I go around, regardless, you can write me a ticket for violating the law that will cost me close to $200.00. Sorry, I'm not stupid, I don't have that kind of money, time and I don't want something like that on my record. I'll figure out how to get around on my own, thank you and goodnight." As I walked away, I noticed, he was just sitting there, very puzzled, trying to comprehend what I had just said. The good thing was, with him there, no one else went around those gates. I drove back, went through downtown Athens, and somehow made it back to IL RT 29 and got home safely, even though I lost about 12 minutes doing so. But it was because I always remember what the Railraods say, and that is, "Stop, for Safety!"
I couldn't stop thinking that an officer of the law would actually tell me to violate the law, but one he didn't seem to know himself anyway. Very puzzeling.
As J. Pat Bonneville, UP Director of Road Operations for the Portland Service Unit would very calmly say, "Thanks for listening."