A Lane Tech student who was reported missing at the Lollapalooza in Chicago reportedly wandered onto the Metra train tracks and was hit by a passing train.
Sincere Ash, 17, was last seen at 4:15 p.m. outside the Lollapalooza event on Sunday, Aug. 5. One of his friends, Callie Boustany, told the Chicago Sun Times that Ash was attempting to sneak into the event.
Later, a friend called Boustany to say Ash was being detained by Chicago police inside the event. Ash lost his cell phone the day before and he did not have a replacement phone.
“Once Lolla was over, we just hoped that he was on his way home, but we had no way of knowing,” Boustany told the Chicago Sun Times.
Ash’s body was found about 6:15 p.m. Sunday on the train tracks near the Clybourn Metra station located at 2001 North Ashland, Metra police confirm.
Passengers standing on an elevated platform saw Ash’s body on the tracks and alerted police. Investigators are reviewing surveillance footage from all trains to determine whether Ash wandered onto the tracks and was hit by a train.
“The circumstances are still under investigation. How and why he got there it’s all under investigation right now,” Metra spokeswoman Meg Reile told the Sun Times.
Reile said that train operators are trained to report if a train hits anyone on the tracks. “The train would have stopped immediately,” Reile said.
via Chicago Sun Times — Metra trains are each equipped with a camera positioned at the front of the train to look 150 feet down the track. Investigators are reviewing footage, Reile said.
But it’s possible the camera wouldn’t have captured what happened if Ash had contact with a train closer than 150 feet or if he was hit by the side of a train.
Reile said she doesn’t believe the platform at Clybourn is equipped with security cameras.
