CANTON, Mich. -- The 19-year-old driver who skirted a railroad gate in Canton Thursday afternoon and crashed into an Amtrak train, killing the four other people in his car, was driving on a suspended license, Local 4 learned.

Surveillance video from a nearby business shows Dan Broughton was the driver of a Ford Fusion that sped around a white SUV that was waiting at a crossing gate at Hannan Road around 12:30 p.m.

The video shows the white SUV was waiting at the gate for 17 seconds before the Ford Fusion sped around and was T-boned by a commuter train carrying 171 passengers.

"I don't know why he would try to go around the railroad tracks like that," said Broughton's grief-stricken mother Diana Broughton. "I have no idea why he thought he could make it."

Broughton and the four passengers in his car, 14-year-old Jessica Sadler, her boyfriend 17-year-old boyfriend Eddie Gross and brothers, Sean, 19, and Terrence, 21, Harris were killed upon impact, said police. Their car was dragged nearly a mile away to Lotz Road.

"I am sorry. I feel the tragedy. I wish I can tell them in person that I loved their kids, just as much as I loved mine. They were here all the time and I am sorry," said Diana Broughton as she held back her tears. I don't know what else to say. I don't know how to act myself."

Diana told Local 4 she let her son borrow the car.

Records from the Michigan Department of State show Broughton had a number of traffic violations, including speeding and disobeying a stop sign in the Detroit enclave of Highland Park on Jan. 7. His failure to show a driver's license April 1 in Woodhaven led a judge to suspend his license for one month on June 17 -- a suspension that began Wednesday.

"There is no one to be charged," said Canton Township police spokesman Sgt. Mark Gajeski. "From witness statements and the video, the person just ran the gate."

Gajeski said Friday there was no indication that alcohol or anything else was involved "other than bad judgment."

"It's one thing when a split second decision affects just you personally but that one split-second decisions affected the five people that passed away and their families," said Gajeski.

The grief stricken mother of Sadler, a student at Taylor Truman High School, is blaming herself that her daughter went against her wishes by going out with the boys that day.

"I feel I'm to blame. I don't want to be to blame," said Tammie Sadler. "I never thought it was really actually her. I kept thinking she was at the beach."

Her mother told Local 4 that half an hour before the accident, Sadler had asked for permission to go to the beach. Her mother said no and told her she would be in trouble if she didn't listen.

Sadler said she heard there was an accident down the street. She said her daughter was with her boyfriend Gross.

"I do not think it's my fault because she's my baby and she's not here with me," Sadler said.

Sadler now clutches her daughter's belongings with a heavy heart.

"She's my baby. She's my princess and now she's gone. Part of me is gone. All of me is gone," Sadler said. "I'm sorry that I let her go. She should be with me and I'm sorry. I love her and I'll miss her. I don't know what to do."

Two of Gross' friends told Local 4 that they are in shock and that on any given day, it could have been one of them in the car with the teens.

Mike Osborne and Conner May told Local 4 that they had crossed over the same tracks with Gross just three days before, but on the day of the crash the two were in Cedar Point.

Gross had called Osborne at 11 a.m. Thursday, an hour-and-a-half before the crash and asked if he wanted to join them.

"He called me and I said, 'Hay what's up? What are you doing?' said Osborne. "'I am at Cedar Point.' He says, 'Oh I was going to see if you wanted to go to the beach.'"

May said the last thing his buddy told him was to be safe and that he would see him later.

May said he didn't want to wake up and turn on the news Friday morning because he was hoping the tragedy was just a dream.

"We all lost a brother. Eddie was always there when we needed him," said May.

May's mom taped the surveillance video of the crash off a TV newscast.

"I wanted the boys to sit down and watch it and understand what one split-second wrong decision could make in a person's life, everybody's lives," said May's mom.

Now, May and Osborne break down when they hear the sound of the passing train.

Gross and Sadler were both Truman High School students. Taylor Superintendent Bethany Iverson said there will be grief counselors on hand at Truman High School on Saturday from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. to provide support and assistance for the students and staff.

"Our sympathy, thoughts, and prayers go out to their families and friends," Iverson said.

The brothers, Sean and Terrence's mother, Murrian Payne was in disbelief Thursday.

"It's hard. I am going to break down later. I don't know. It's hard for me to talk right now," said Payne.

The younger Harris was home visiting from Virginia.

"I feel bad for everybody in that car, but I had two boys in that car," said Payne.

Neighbors described the boys as good kids.

Payne said she received a text message from her son on Thursday saying they were in Canton dropping off a friend.

The parents of the victims will be heading to the coroner's office Friday to identify their children's bodies.

A makeshift memorial has been set up at the train crossing intersection.

There will be a candlelight vigil for the victims at 9:30 p.m. Friday at Northwest Park on Van Born and Harold roads in Taylor.

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The victims' bodies were extricated from the vehicle nearly three hours after the crash. Another train came from the Dearborn train station around 4 p.m. and dragged the Wolverine 353 train and all the 171 passengers and four crew members back to the station.

The train departed from Pontiac and had just stopped in Dearborn and continued west to its final destination in Chicago.

Police said the train was traveling about 67 mph.

James Reese, 66, who got on the train in Royal Oak, said the conductor sounded the horn at every intersection.

Another passenger aboard the train called Local 4 from her cell phone while they were waiting and said that she was in the third car when they crashed.

"He (the conductor) sounded his horn, all of a sudden we felt a jolt and then we slowed down," said the woman, who only wanted to be identified as Amber.

Another passenger called Local 4 from aboard the train and said she felt a slight jolt and then saw debris flying outside her window.

"I am not sure if it's debris came from the vehicle or the train. First, I thought we hit something on the train tracks. I didn't know it was a vehicle. Then the conductor came on the PA and announced it was a car crash," said the witness, who did not want to be identified.

The witness said there were about 15 blind people on the train who were heading back home to Chicago after attending the National Federation of the Blind convention in Detroit.

She said many of the blind people had walking canes and Seeing Eye dogs aboard the train. While the passengers waited on the train, they were not allowed to leave, but the conductors took the dogs outside near the tracks so they could go to the bathroom.

Many of the passengers on the train were also heading to the American Library Association conference in Chicago.

"These instances are always tragic for the passengers, the victims in the vehicle and their friends and family and for our train crew members," said Chicago-based Amtraks Spokesman Marc Magliari.

E-mail WDIV at Local4@ClickOnDetroit.com if you or a relative was on the Amtrak train.

The Michigan State Police and Amtrak officials are helping the local police in the investigation.

Eyewitness Rick Enzenauer was parked on the other side of the tracks and was the first to call 911.

"A train hit a car over there on the railroad tracks," said Enzenauer.

Enzenauer said the image of the crash is burned into his mind. "That car was folded around that engine," he said as he remembers the horrific scene.

Last year, 119 people died in Amtrak accidents, usually when trains struck vehicles or pedestrians at railroad crossings, according to figures from the Federal Railroad Administration.

According to the Association of the American Railroads, 94 percent of train-car crashes are a result of risky driver behavior.

Train engineer Bob Hilliker with the Great Lakes Central Railroad said when he was driving trains, at least a dozen times a day, he would see people crossing the tracks when they should not have.

Stay with Local 4 News and ClickOnDetroit.com for further news updates.