CHICAGO — A young journalist months into her career was struck and killed last month at the Hegewisch South Shore station and her family is fighting for safety signage.
Grace Bentkowski, 22, was having a good day on July 25 when she alerted her family in a group text that she was going to do some shopping after getting off early at News Nation downtown, where she worked as a creative producer.
She then walked to Millennium Station to begin her commute back home to Dyer — which is something Grace did every day and all of last summer as an intern.
Patrons have to walk across the train tracks at the Hegewisch and Hammond stations to get to the parking lot.
When Bentkowski exited her train at the Hegewisch station, family said she walked west and saw others in front of her cross the tracks, but her view was obstructed by a large concrete pillar.
“We have the kids on a Life360 app (provides GPS location) and we saw that she got on the train, father Phil Bentkowski said. “And then a delay came up on the South Shore website. The next one said train-pedestrian accident. I thought, ‘glad it’s probably not her.'”
Then after five or so minutes, Bentkowski noticed her location started going backward toward the city instead of Northwest Indiana.
He thought someone stole her phone, then the GPS dot started going 70 to 80 miles per hour toward the University of Chicago Medical Center.
“I got a bad feeling she was the one who was hit, as soon as I saw she ended up at University of Chicago I hopped in the car and drove down there,” Bentkowski said. “I spoke to District 3 CPD or transit police and they asked ‘are you related to Grace Bentkowski?'”
He was told to get the emergency room and that she was alive. At around this time, Grace’s mother and brother arrived at the hospital.
After hours of waiting and surgery, the family was told that their daughter didn’t make it.
“My initial thought was ‘that’s not possible,'” her father said. “Was under the assumption that if you were hit by a train leaving the station, obviously it wouldn’t be that fast and worst case was maybe a broken leg. It’s the worst nightmare ever.”
Family viewed video of the incident and told WGN News no horn was blown by the conductor and the train accelerated quickly.
“No noise, no nothing. From the video all you hear is a thud,” Bentkowski said. “Then the engineer blows a horn.”
Since her death, family has made it their mission to increase awareness around the tracks at the Hegewisch and Hammond stations.
“It’s such a safety issue, this is 2024,” Bentkowski said. “I don’t understand why there isn’t ‘stop, look, listen’ safety signs — it makes no sense. She was thrown 50 feet.”
In addition to a lack of signage, there is not a safety arm where patrons have to cross the westbound and eastbound tracks, according to family.
“Her phone wasn’t damaged, she wasn’t on it and had her AirPods in her purse,” her father said. “The only thing in her hand was her car keys.”
‘Beautiful inside and out’
The 22-year-old knew she wanted to work in journalism from a young age.
At Lake Central High School, she was the director of LCTV, the school’s news program, and had a sole focus on going to Ball State University for journalism.
“She was beautiful inside and out,” grandmother Maryann O’Neill said. “She knew what she wanted to do in life and it was the news. (When asked about other schools) she said ‘no, it’s Ball State — that’s where I want to go. She was blessed in so many different ways.”
Bentkowski excelled in the journalism program and became news director of NewsLink Indiana, which is an award-winning college station ran by BSU students.
At the time of her death, she was looking at apartments downtown with her boyfriend Ian and planned to move in August or September.
As Bentkowski was settling into her professional career she worked so hard for, she always let her former staff at Ball State know that she was only a text or call away.
“She embodied her name. She always led us by being a family,” NewsLink news director Abby Urban told WGN News. “A lot of us were mentored by her and even with her new job she was making sure we were comfortable. Now, lacking that support has been hard on us.”
WGN News learned while it is a South Shore station, Metra owns most of the property. The agency said they will review the incident.
“Metra is in touch with NICTD to review the circumstances of this tragic incident. We extend our sincere condolences to the family and friends of this young woman,” they said in a statement.
The Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District, who operates the South Shore Line, responded a few minutes before the publication deadline for this story saying they will be adding in interim warning signs while “reaching out to an engineering firm to determine what it will take to add active warning to the pedestrian crossings.”
They also mentioned “awareness” for patrons and encouraged them to “adhere to the simple message of ‘See Tracks, Think Train.'”
Their full statement is below.
“At the South Shore Line, safety is our #1 priority in everything we do.
Our deepest condolences have been and continue to be with the family and friends of our rider who lost her life at the Hegewisch Station.
We firmly believe that the station, as designed in 2006, is safe. We would never operate the railroad with a condition that we believed to be unsafe. We are constantly making enhancements to our operations with safety in mind. In Michigan City, we just eliminated street running operations and eliminated 20 at grade roadway-railroad crossings that had existed for decades. The remaining 13 roadway crossings have all been upgraded to having gates, lights, and bells. We also continue to invest in safety enhancements at other crossings along the line.
Since the Hegewisch station was opened in 2008, there have been in excess of 10 million riders departing or arriving at the station without an accident at the platforms and pedestrian crossings. One accident is, however, too many!
After any accident, we look to see if safety can be further enhanced, and this situation is no different. We are reaching out to an engineering firm to determine what it will take to add active warning to the pedestrian crossings. In the interim, we are installing warning signage, and, although not required by law, the South Shore Line will institute a train whistle board to sound as trains approach the crossings.
One message we need to emphasize. Crossing railroad tracks with or without active warning, whether at a train station or a roadway always requires awareness, and that is why we strongly support and encourage everyone to adhere to the simple message of “See Tracks, Think Train.” The South Shore Line operates 53 weekday trains on a regular basis through the Hegewisch Station not including special or extra trains that may be run. In addition, we have a freight railroad that operates on that line with unscheduled service 7 days per week. Our riders and members of the public should always assume a train running on any track, at any direction, at any time.”
A GoFundMe for Grace has raised over $26,000.