A Wright City resident is suing Norfolk Southern Railway Company for injuries that allegedly occurred in a December crash with a railroad work vehicle.

The crash happened Dec. 9, around 6:30 a.m. A pickup truck driven by Jerry Allee, 42, was on Roelker Road in Wright City crossing the railroad tracks when it was hit by a work truck traveling along the tracks, the lawsuit states.

Allee and his wife filed a lawsuit Oct. 17 against the railroad and the employee driving the truck, Ibrahim Salifu, St. Peters. The lawsuit alleges Allee “sustained severe and permanent injury to his head and cervical spine,” accruing significant medical bills, “and will continue to suffer pain in the future.”

Allee is seeking financial restitution for the harms he claims were caused by negligence on the part of Norfolk Southern and Salifu. 

Central to the claim is that the railway crossing gates and warning lights did not activate to signal a vehicle was on the tracks, according to the lawsuit. It alleges there also were no employees controlling traffic on the road at the crossing, and that Salifu failed to yield to traffic on the road.

According to reports from emergency responders at the crash scene, both Allee and Salifu were out of their vehicles when emergency personnel arrived. Neither driver complained of injuries at the time, and Allee refused care from medical staff at the site.

Allee is being represented by attorney Thomas E. Schwartz, whose office is in St. Louis. Schwartz was not immediately available for comment.

A collision Dec. 9, 2016, between a railroad work vehicle and a pickup truck is the subject of a lawsuit filed Oct. 17. Wright City resident Jerry Allee claims he was seriously injured after his vehicle was hit by a work truck traveling along the tracks at Roelker Road in Wright City. Submitted photo.