Hagan receives summons over blocked crossing

The police chief said complaints of trains' blocking traffic have increased.
STAFF/WIRE REPORT
LORDSTOWN -- A state senator who works as a part-time locomotive engineer has been accused of blocking a road with his train.
Lordstown police Officer Terry Campbell handed state Sen. Robert F. Hagan of Youngstown, D-33rd, a summons Wednesday to appear in Newton Falls Municipal Court.
Hagan was charged with obstructing a road north of the General Motors Lordstown Assembly Plant. The train's conductor, whose name was not immediately available, is also expected to appear in court soon on the same charge.
The summons already was filled out with Hagan's Social Security number, birth date and other information when the officer boarded the CSX train.
"I am a little bit perplexed. How did they know it was me?" Hagan said. "I don't know if it was a Republican involved or what?"
Hagan picked up a shipment of 41 vehicles from the GM complex, and his conductor was waiting for clearance from a dispatcher to switch rails.
The move was stalled because of nearby train traffic. The senator said that his train was stopped for more than five minutes, the most state law allows at a rail crossing.
"I am not arguing that. I'm sure it was five minutes," he said. "It's not the engineer's responsibility to make sure the road crossings are not blocked; it's the conductor. And if he says go, I go. If he tells me to slow down, I slow down."
What's behind this
Lordstown Police Chief Brent Milhoan said trains' blocking traffic has been an ongoing problem in the village, but complaints to his department have increased in recent months.
"It's been a problem with the trains blocking traffic at Salt Springs Road and Muth and at Muth and Lyntz," he said. "Our ordinance says if they are moving, then the five-minute time period does not apply, but if they are stopped, they can't be there more than five minutes."
Milhoan said he often sends officers to stopped trains to see when they will be moving on, or has dispatchers call the company. He sent CSX officials a letter when he started receiving more complaints.
In the letter, Milhoan asked them to work with the police department to resolve the matter or officers would be forced to write citations. The episode with Hagan's train occurred about a week after CSX got the letter, Milhoan said.
He said an off-duty officer from another department called about the train, and even after Campbell arrived, he timed the delay for another eight minutes.
"I told him to go find out who the conductor and the engineer were so we could draw up the charges," Milhoan said, admitting he was even a little surprised to find out it was Hagan.
Hagan began working on trains 33 years ago and can't recall being cited for blocking a road.
"It was kind of funny, but what are you going to do?" he said. "When the police officer hit me with the summons, I was kind of shocked."