PLANT CITY, Fla. — As the sun set over a Plant City cemetery on March 23, the Lopez and Hernandez families gathered to remember the loved ones they lost.
It’s been more than six months since a tragic crash at a Plant City train crossing claimed six lives, including three children:
- Jose G. Hernandez, 52
- Enedelia Hernandez, 50
- Anaelia Hernandez, 22
- Alyssa Hernandez, 17
- Jakub A. Lopez, 17
- Julian Hernandez, 9
“It’s been six months today,” Jakub Lopez’s mother Claudia Lopez said at the vigil. “I think it’s beautiful how much he was loved and how much our community cares.”
A train hit the Hernandez family’s SUV at a crossing on Jim Lefler Circle near U.S. 92.
“Jakub was in the vehicle with the whole family,” said his father, Julio Lopez. “He passed 17 days after his 17th birthday.”
A seventh person in the SUV survived, but was seriously injured: Guillermo Gama.
10 Investigates asked Gama’s family for an update on his recovery, but we have not heard back.
“By reviewing the camera footage, we see the driver of the SUV pull up and slow crawl across the railroad crossing, but never stop,” Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister said after the crash on Sept. 23, 2023.
They were driving to a quinceañera – a girl’s 15th birthday celebration.
That train crossing led to what the county described as an unpermitted event venue which has since been shut down for fire safety violations.
10 Investigates found a delivery driver – a mom of three – was hit and killed by a train at that same crossing in 2021.
“The pain you go through when you lose a child, it’s a different pain that you go through,” Jasmine Ford’s father, Victor Ford said.
The Ford family is suing CSX, the property owners, and others, claiming they failed to make the crossing safe enough.
“I really want them to change that intersection,” Jasmine Ford’s sister Ashley Ford said.
The property owners and CSX did not respond to our questions for this story.
The train crossing is what’s called a passive crossing, meaning there are no crossing arms.
There are 92 passive crossings in Hillsborough County. The county says 23 of those are on private property, like the one on Jim Lefler Circle.
Sixty-nine crossings have stop or yield signs only. Twenty-three have signal lights, but no crossing arms. Two crossings have no signs, signal lights, or crossing arms.
In the days following the crash, Hillsborough County leaders promised to look into making safety improvements.
“I wonder what we can do as a political body to provide more safety measures,” Hillsborough County Commissioner Michael Owen said on Oct. 4, 2023.
10 Investigates followed up six months later and found they followed through.
“For any new developments that are going to take place where there's going to be a railroad crossing, they're going to have to seek permission from the rail line owner in order to find out what safety measures have to be put in place before any type of development takes place,” Owen, who represents District 4, said which includes Plant City.
That would take care of new development and redevelopment; but what about existing crossings?
“We have to go backward," Owen said. "And we have to work with the private property owners in order to put some heightened safety measures at those railroad crossings."
The amendment to the Land Development Code is scheduled for public hearings in May and June.
Commissioner Owens’ office tells us CSX will evaluate safety measures at all of the county’s passive crossings and report back to the board.
“I don’t wish this on any parent. It’s a pain that’s so indescribable. We miss him so much, but I know we’re going to see him again one day. It’s just dealing with the pain, you know, not having him with us,” Claudia Lopez said.
The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office tells us its investigation into the Sept. 23, 2023 crash is still open.