DRIVER, 16, DIES WHEN TRAIN RAMS CAR GIRL WAS ON HER WAY TO SCHOOL IN BRIGHTON WHEN ZEPHYR HIT VEHICLE
Rocky Mountain News
Wednesday, May 4, 1994
Author: JOHN C. ENSSLIN ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS STAFF WRITER
A 16-year-old honor student on her way to school died a few blocks from home Tuesday morning when her car collided with an Amtrak train.
A California Zephyr traveling between Chicago and Denver rammed the 1966 Pontiac Ventura about 7:20 a.m. at a crossing near the 11400 block of Potomac Street, police said.
"It was a pretty violent collision," said police spokesman J.R. Duncan. The train - which had been traveling at 70 mph - struck the car on the driver's side door and pushed it 218 feet.
The driver, Lynn Marie Reigle , was dead at the scene. She had been thrown
from the crumpled vehicle, Duncan said.
Reigle 's mother arrived shortly after the accident.
"In fact, the officers were at the scene when a woman pulled up and asked, 'Is that a blue Pontiac?' "
Police said Reigle apparently failed to yield to the train. Duncan said police don't know whether she didn't see it, tried to outrun it or if the car stalled.
"The intersection had a clear view to the north and south," Duncan said. ''They (train crew members) saw the vehicle, but anticipated it would move. There was no time for them to react." The accident occurred at an
intersection with railroad-crossing and yield signs but no lights or gates.
Reigle was on her way to Brighton High School, where the principal recalled her as a bright, active sophomore.
"She was very popular with her peers and well-liked by the staff, an excellent student," said principal Jim Rietz. Reigle played on the junior varsity tennis team and was active in band and 4-H activities.
None of the 230 passengers on board the train was injured. The crash delayed the train by 1 hour and 25 minutes.
"You can't beat the train, not when they're traveling at that speed," said Ron Beranek, an Omaha train buff. He was on his way to a ceremony in Utah marking the 125th anniversary of the driving of the golden spike that completed the transcontinental railroad.
OBITUARIES
Rocky Mountain News
Friday, May 13, 1994
Lynn Marie Reigle
* LYNN MARIE REIGLE , 16, of Brighton died May 3. Services were May 6 at Brighton United Methodist Church. Burial was in Elmwood Cemetery. Miss Reigle was born Dec. 10, 1977, in Denver. She was an honor-roll student at Brighton High School, where she belonged to the Future Business Leaders of America, the National Honor Society and the high school band. She is survived by her parents, Russell and Jo Ellen of Brighton, and grandparents, Leonard Reigle of Brighton and Hugh and Golda Marshall of Sun City, Ariz. Contributions: Lynne ReigleMemorial Fund or Lynn Reigle Memorial 4-H Scholarship Fund, Platte Valley Bank, 30 N. Fourth Ave., Brighton 80601.
