POLICE SAY TEST SHOWS DRUG USE BY TRUCKER IN TRAIN CRASH

By Jon Hilkevitch, Tribune Transportation Writer. Tribune staff writer Steve
Mills contributed to this report. June 25, 1998

Police said Wednesday that the trucker involved in last week's fatal crash
of a Chicago-bound commuter train in Indiana has tested positive for
marijuana, but it remained unclear when he may have used the drug or if it
contributed to the accident.

"The toxicology test we performed doesn't indicate when the marijuana was
used or the quantity involved," said Officer Lisa Duncan, a spokeswoman for
the Portage, Ind., Police Department.

Portage police declined to disclose specific test result data-- for
instance, whether the positive test results came from blood or urine
samples--but said the driver, Keith J. Lintz, 39, of Niles, Mich., tested
negative for alcohol.

No criminal charges have been filed against Lintz in the accident that
killed three people and injured six aboard the South Shore Railroad train at
a crossing near the Midwest Steel Co. plant in Portage.

The National Transportation Safety Board said that it has requested Lintz's
blood and urine samples from Portage police in order to conduct more
sophisticated testing but that the local authorities have not complied.
Portage police would not comment about why the specimens, taken in the
immediate aftermath of the crash, had not been forwarded to the NTSB.

Tests performed by the NTSB can determine whether marijuana was used during
the previous 12 hours and how much was ingested, federal officials said.

Safety board investigators typically arrive at an accident site after police
and rely on local authorities' cooperation and evidence-gathering
techniques. They say they will remain stymied until they receive part of the
samples taken from Lintz.

"We don't have a sample yet from the police department, but we do have
subpoena powers to get it," said Matt Furman, a NTSB spokesman in
Washington. "It's important because our test would have been indicative of
when and how much marijuana was used."

A federal source in the Department of Transportation said "negotiations"
were under way with the Portage Police Department to provide samples to the
NTSB.

The source said local police officials, the Indiana State Police and the
Porter County prosecutor's office were concerned that the samples taken from
Lintz were insufficient to conduct a series of tests and that enough of the
collected blood and urine must be preserved for possible testing by experts
working for the truck driver's defense.

The accident occurred before dawn June 18 when the South Shore train plowed
into the rear of Lintz's dual-trailer truck, which moments before impact was
boxed in between the two sets of commuter tracks and a pair of parallel
Conrail freight tracks. Upon impact, a 20-ton steel coil on the truck
snapped from its rigging and smashed into the lead car of the two-car train
where the victims were riding.

Portage police were first to respond to the 4:30 a.m. accident and, as
required under federal commercial carrier regulations, obtained blood and
urine samples from Lintz. Portage Police Chief David Reynolds said Wednesday
that toxicology tests indicated that Lintz "tested positive for marijuana
and negative for alcohol."

Medical literature states that the psychoactive chemical in marijuana,
tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, can be detected in blood tests and in
urinalysis for up to three weeks after use, but experts differ on the
reliability of the tests.

Lintz and his attorney were unavailable for comment Wednesday. Officials at
Eastern Express Inc., of Griffith, Ind., whose name was listed on the door
of Lintz's truck, did not return phone calls.

Indiana State Police Cpl. Lennie Frye, who is assigned to a toll road unit,
said a motorist can be charged with operating a motor vehicle with a
controlled substance if blood tests show that marijuana was in the system.

"Until all the reports are completed by the various agencies and reviewed,
we can't determine if there will be criminal charges against the driver,"
said Kathy Minick, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office.

Edward Cone, a chemist at the National Institute of Drug Abuse, one of the
National Institutes of Health, said it is hard to pinpoint through blood or
urine testing when someone used marijuana or how much they used.

"From a single specimen, you can't really tell how much drug has been
ingested," said Cone. "If you're not sure when the person used the drug,
then you can't say how much. You really need some definitive times to do
that."

Cone said that marijuana generally clears the bloodstream in 24 hours or
less and the urine in one to five days--unless the person is a heavy user.
Then, said Cone, it can linger for a few weeks.

Much depends on an individual's metabolism. Still, it is extremely difficult
to describe a person's usage with any certainty, he said.

"If we found a certain amount of the drug during testing," Cone said, "we
still might not be able to determine whether you smoked one joint or four
joints."

He said that a teaspoon or so of blood or urine is enough to conduct a test.

In the late 1980s, the NTSB examined 182 accidents involving large trucks in
which a total of 210 people had died. Of the truckers tested for drug use,
13 percent had used marijuana, 13 percent had consumed alcohol and 7 percent
to 9 percent had used cocaine, stimulants and amphetamines.

Lintz was ticketed June 18 for allegedly improperly securing the coils to
his trailer, exceeding the allowable gross-weight load for the type of truck
he was driving, being 28 days behind in his log book and having faulty
brakes. In the last six years, he received four speeding tickets, according
to the Michigan secretary of state's office.

Investigators have yet to determine whether Lintz drove around a lowered
crossing gate and pulled onto the tracks or if the gate-crossing system
malfunctioned. Authorities said Lintz told them that he was stopped and
waiting for the Conrail train to pass when he saw the South Shore track
gates come down behind him.

A spokesman for the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District,
owners of the South Shore, said both sets of gates are supposed to lower
simultaneously.

Lintz's dual-trailer truck, which was 72 feet long, was several feet longer
than the space between the parallel tracks.

Northwestern University professor Ian Savage, who specializes in truck
safety regulation, said that even if a driver is determined to have
marijuana in his system, the finding "may be a red herring."

"There are more important questions that can be explained by biorhythms,"
Savage said. "The Portage crash happened just before dawn, when the
preponderance of truck accidents occur.

"The fact is, the human body and motor skills are at their lowest point
between 2 and 4 a.m. and marijuana usage has a minimal influence after a few
hours."

Checked-by: "Rolf Ernst"