Train claims yet another victim

By Sabryna Cornish

A train has claimed its third victim in the past month.

Jamison Urso, 23, last known address DeKalb, was killed instantly Monday when a train hit him, according to the DeKalb County Sheriff’s report. Urso was pronounced dead at 5:05 a.m. by Deputy Coroner David Jacobson.

Urso was hit at the Nelson Road crossing by an eastbound Chicago and Northwestern train, police reports stated. Urso apparently was sitting on the tracks when the train hit him. An inquest is pending and sheriff’s police still are investigating.

This is the third accident involving pedestrians in DeKalb County within a one-month period.

The first two deaths both occurred on May 21 a few hours apart from each other. Stephen R. Nelson, 28, last known address Aurora, was struck by a westbound Chicago and Northwestern train west of the Annie Glidden overpass.

Robert L. Morgan, 22, last known address DeKalb, was hit by an eastbound Chicago Northwestern train. Morgan was an NIU graduate.

Morgan’s friends, Brian and Chris Dennison, are trying to start a bill that will require trains to slow down when they are in city limits. The Morgan bill also would require the train company to put up fences around train tracks within city limits to make them less accessible to pedestrians.

According to the records department of the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department, there have been eight accidental deaths since 1986 involving trains in DeKalb County.

These statistics do not include suicides, however.

There was one death involving a male, a train and a truck in 1986; one death involving a male and a train in 1987; one death involving a male, a car and a train in 1988, one death involving a female, a car and a train in 1989; no train accidents involving pedestrians in 1990; one death involving a male and a train in 1991 and one death involving a male and a train in 1992.