On March 15, 1999, Amtrak's southbound City of New Orleans passenger train collided with a semi-trailer truck in the village of Bourbonnais, Illinois, United States. Most of the train derailed, killing eleven people. A National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation into the accident attributed the cause to the truck driver trying to beat the train across a grade crossing. and another 121 were transported to nearby hospitals with serious injuries. The driver of the semi-truck, John R. Stokes, was also injured. The collision resulted in more than US$14 million in damages. Although the NTSB's investigation placed the fault of the collision on Stokes and his failure to yield at the grade crossing, the Illinois State Police concluded that the crossing lights were flashing, as expected, but the crossing gates were not functioning correctly and failed to be lowered until Stokes had already begun crossing the tracks.
The Illinois Attorney General reviewed the case for criminal charges, but due to the conflicting agency reports, it was ultimately determined that the evidence would be insufficient to charge Stokes for the eleven deaths. "Stokes never faced more serious charges, such as involuntary manslaughter, in the accident that also injured 122 people because prosecutors at the time did not believe they could meet the burden of proof," said a spokeswoman for the Illinois attorney general's office. Instead, prosecutors obtained a grand jury indictment against Stokes in September 2001 for one count of willful violation of maximum driving time in violation of Illinois statute 625 ILCS 5/18b-108 (incorporating 49 C.F.R. 395.3) and willful violation of driver's record of duty in violation of Illinois statute 625 ILCS 5/18b-108), both felonies. He was found guilty on both counts in August 2004. Stokes was later found to have had multiple violations that required his attendance of traffic school five times in three different counties, which should have resulted in his license being suspended at the time of the wreck. He died in February 2007 from a cerebral hemorrhage.
Aftermath
Following the collision, the city of Bourbonnais erected a memorial to the deceased victims at the intersection of Highways 45 and 102, across from the Olivet Nazarene University campus. On January 17, 2006, the Village Board of Bourbonnais voted to permanently close the grade crossing where the accident occurred. A replacement crossing will be built at another location nearby that will, the Village Board hopes, prevent similar wrecks from occurring in the future.
At least 31 civil cases were filed in various courts against parties involved in the wreck. In Illinois, the court placed the cause of the wreck squarely on Stokes, finding: