The retiring director of IPFW’s Community Research Institute received Indiana’s top honor during a surprise party Tuesday at Parkview Field, the university announced.A Fort Wayne woman apparently escaped injury Friday when a freight train plowed into the sport utility vehicle she was driving in Warsaw, police said.
Sandra Casanova, 42, drove the westbound SUV, a 2004 Lexus, into the path of the northbound train about 8:30 a.m. at the Market Street crossing, Warsaw police said.
The train hit the driver’s side of the SUV and shoved the vehicle two blocks to Main Street before it was pushed to the wayside, police said.
Casanova was shaken but not visibly injured or in pain. She was taken to Kosciusko Community Hospital in Warsaw as a precaution, police said.
The Market Street crossing does not have gates, but the warning bells and lights were working at the time of the crash, police said. Casanova told police she did not see the lights or hear the bells or the train’s whistle before the collision.
Norfolk Southern spokesman Dave Pidgeon said the train did not derail and that no hazardous materials spilled. He said the train’s two-man crew was not hurt.
The allowed speed for that stretch of track is 50 mph, but how fast the train was going was not immediately clear, Pidgeon said. The crash is under investigation.
With 36 cars of mixed freight and 96 empty cars, the train had come from Cincinnati and was bound for Elkhart, he said.
The crash closed the crossings at Fort Wayne Street, Main Street, Center Street, Market Street, Winona Avenue, Pope Street and Ranch Road, police said. The train was able to roll away from the scene at 11:45 a.m., Pidgeon said.
