CASS COUNTY (WKZO) — A woman is dead after her SUV was crushed and torn to pieces by an Amtrak Train near Dowagiac just before 4 p.m. Friday.
Cass County Deputies say they believe the driver; 66-year-old Barbara Schult of Middlebury misjudged the speed of the passenger train.
Witnesses told investigators that she sped around other vehicles that had stopped at the crossing at Barron Lake Road and Pokagon Highway and tried to drive around the gates.
She was only partially through when her Ford was struck.
Schult died on impact. The Amtrak Engineer, 52-year-old David Morgan of Battle Creek saw the SUV enter the gates and hit the brakes but could not avoid the collision.
He was taken to Lakeland Hospital for treatment of minor injuries. None of the 191 passengers on board the Wolverine line were injured as the train headed to Kalamazoo as it made its way east from Chicago to Detroit.
