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One killed, one injured when Amtrak hits car
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More from Breaking NewsA 17-year-old boy was killed and a man was critically injured Thursday afternoon when a train hit their car at a railroad crossing, splitting it in two, authorities said.
The fatal collision occurred at 2:48 p.m. at the edge of a strawberry field near the intersection of Victoria Avenue and Olivas Park Drive outside Ventura, said Sgt. Robert Granieri of the California Highway Patrol.
Shasta Gainer, a Ventura County deputy medical examiner, identified the dead youth as Jack Mabee of Oxnard. An autopsy will be performed today. Mabee was riding in the right front passenger seat, Granieri said. The injured man, who was driving, has not yet been identified.
The Amtrak Surfliner train involved in the crash left Goleta for San Diego at 1:45 p.m., and it was headed south through a gentle curve near the edge of the field at roughly 55 mph just before the accident occurred. The car was traveling in the opposite direction down a dirt road next to the railroad tracks when the driver turned for an unknown reason into a crossing in front of the approaching train, Granieri said.
The impact sheared the car in half, throwing the rear to the edge of the field and leaving the mangled front end at the side of the rocky incline next to the tracks.
None of the 196 passengers on the train was hurt, said Amtrak Spokeswoman Karina Romero.
The train sustained very little damage. The hinges of the train¹s cowcatcher were the only parts that were visibly damaged, Granieri said.
The railroad crossing has signs warning residents about the dangers of the location, but no mechanical crossing arm.
One train passenger said he barely felt the impact of the collision, and didn¹t hear it at all.
"It felt like we hit a bolt on the rail," said Chris Westerfield, 21, of Santa Barbara. Two other passengers said they didn't hear or feel anything during the collision.
When the train stopped, an official asked anyone with medical experience to go to the front of the train, Westerfield said. A pre-med student at UCLA, Westerfield followed the conductor to the wreaked car, he said.
When he got there, he heard authorities say one person was already dead. The other man was sitting on the ground next to the remains of the driver's seat, muttering to himself and rocking back and forth with his feet in the air and his head in his hands, Westerfield said.
He did not treat the man. The conductor escorted him back to the train moments later when Ventura City firefighters arrived and began administering medical care to the injured man, Westerfield said.
The injured man was transported in an ambulance to the Ventura County Medical Center in critical condition, according to a prepared statement from the Ventura City Fire Department.
The train was stopped at the scene of the crash for four hours, Romero said.
While it was stopped, a shuttle bus arrived to pick up about 50 passengers.
The rest continued to Los Angeles at 6:45 p.m. Those continuing toward San Diego then switched to a different train.
CHP officers were working Thursday afternoon to determine exactly what happened, why, and how similar tragedies could be prevented, Granieri said.
"We just don't like having these things happening to people."
Staff writer Zeke Barlow contributed to this report
Posted by Hueneme_girl29 on July 3, 2008 at 4:09 p.m. (Suggest removal)
What happened? I cringe when I see people stopping on the tracks at red lights and such, it's not going to make the light change any faster! I'm not saying that's what happened -
Posted by fungus on July 3, 2008 at 4:30 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I can already see the lawsuit against the city/county for not having crossing gates.
Posted by slkrchck on July 3, 2008 at 4:37 p.m. (Suggest removal)
sympathies to the families. those trains are powerful. i'm a regular rider and it amazes me at how quiet they are. please be careful, folks.
Posted by hogueiette on July 3, 2008 at 5:26 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I drove down Olivas on the way home and you could see it. It was in the filed, there was no reason for crossing gates.
Posted by sickofsimi on July 3, 2008 at 6:53 p.m. (Suggest removal)
It bothers me to read that "trains hit vehicles"... Trains can neither steer out of the way, nor can they quickly stop when there is a car in their path. While it is certainly a tragedy every time someone is hurt or killed, remember you are crossing a "right of way". That means no matter what, the train has the right of way. Just like if you and a fire truck with lights and siren on crash, it's your fault. Same with the railroad...
Posted by Ventura22 on July 3, 2008 at 7:05 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Of course there are no crossing gates there...Duh! Because there's no legal crossing there. If a car was on the tracks in that area, it was trespassing in the railroad right-of-way. Darwin at work here.
Posted by lilmamma on July 3, 2008 at 9:06 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I smell a huge lawsuit. My prayers are with the family during this sad time. I hope that the people in the car were not trying to beat the train as it was coming. These trains can not stop automatically when they are going full speed.
Posted by Missing_Oxnard on July 3, 2008 at 10:29 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Am I the only one here who's completely offended by this article?
Once again The Star boasts its anti-journalistic, insensitive side and writes unnecessary dramatizations such as: "'It felt like we hit a bolt on the rail'"
and worse,
"The other man was sitting on the ground next to the remains of the driver's seat, muttering to himself and rocking back and forth with his feet in the air and his head in his hands, Westerfield said."
-- This is a NEWS ARTICLE, not a Steven King novel! There is no room for gratuitous dramatizations and in-depth description in clean journalism. When did The Star turn to yellow journalism tactics?
The cover photo alone is enough to make one cringe!
Thanks again, Star for providing Ventura County with good, reliable yellow news.
Posted by r.gyurkovitz on July 3, 2008 at 11:26 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Missing,
I agree that the prose leave something to be desired, but there was nothing particularly salacious about the picture. If more people knew what they or their car would look like in a contest between them and an automobile, perhaps tragedies like this would be less common.
Ventura,
I'm a Camarillo resident so I'm not familiar with the area in question, but I know that there are several unregulated crossings in the orchards and fields between Somis and Moorpark which have seen similar incidences in recent years.
Folks, it's not a bad idea to look around as you approach ANY railroad crossing. You probably don't need to stop, but you ought to be aware, just in case you end up at an unregulated crossing someday. There are still many throughout the U.S. Furthermore, crossing arm malfunctions are relatively rare but not at all unheard of.
The train has right-of-way, the crossing area is an easement. Occasionally someone with well to do family is hit at an unregulated crossing and there is a large judgment against the railroad. In this case, it will probably be quietly settled out of court, probably for less than $100K.
Ryan
Posted by xalonnax on July 4, 2008 at 12:13 a.m. (Suggest removal)
this is tragic. i can't even imagine.
Posted by NothingButTheTruth on July 4, 2008 at 12:15 a.m. (Suggest removal)
"...sitting on the ground next to the remains of the driver's seat, muttering to himself and rocking back and forth with his feet in the air and his head in his hands." Then the Fire Dept lists him as "critical"? What was he "muttering"... what did he have to say? I didn't find the article offensive, but do feel valuable information could have been included.
Posted by sbstudent27 on July 4, 2008 at 12:50 a.m. (Suggest removal)
This is complete and utter b.s., a total fabrication. I was on the that train today and the witness does not know what he's talking about. I'm a student from UCSB that took that train trying to get home for the July 4th weekend. It was an awful thing to have happen and I would at least like to get the facts straight.
We left goleta at 1:45 pm and neared Oxnard somewhere around 2:50 pm when it happened. There was no jolt. There was only the small usual jolt you get from the train braking, not from a car crashing into a train. They say that the car tried to beat the train. There were no railroad crossings because it's basically just miles and miles of farmland and far away from any people. It was like we were sitting in the middle of an orchard. A crossing wasn't needed.
Okay, that witness is completely unreliable. Why they chose to interview him is beyond me. He was the one who, when the accident happened, went down to the cafe cart and celebrated with beers like it was some spontaneous block party. He was calling anybody and everybody dramatizing the whole thing on his cellphone. The conductor WAS calling people with medical experience to attend to the injured but there were way more qualified people. We had nurses there that could have done it but this guy decides to push his way in? do you know what pre-med means? It means you take biology classes and chemistry 1A. Tell me how that's going to help save a life. leave it to the professionals! and I DOUBT the man was "muttering to himself with his heads in his hands." The critical condition you're in when a huge train hits you from the side makes that unlikely to happen. I wish the reporter was there earlier to actually get the facts rather than having us rely on this unreliable witness for the details.
This was a horrible thing to have happened and I refuse to let anyone glorify or unecessarily dramatize the situation. It was a terrible thing to have happened. Yes, as with all train accidents lately, it was a bad decision on the driver to make but no one wants to have that happen. No one should be pointing fingers, it's just a bad situation. I feel awful that the boy died. I feel terrible for the driver who, if he lives, will have this burden of knowing that it was he who made the decision to beat the train. My heart goes out to the family of the boy. I'm just grateful to be alive right now. I just hope everyone focuses on the fact that this could have gone so much worse.
Posted by socalsurfrchic on July 8, 2008 at 7:57 p.m. (Suggest removal)
The Mabee family and my family are close friends. Their loss is our loss. Jack Mabee was an awsome kid. So any dramatization of what really went on only hurts us as a whole. None of us really know what happened, except Jack's friend. My heart not only goes out to the Mabee family but Jack's friend as well... He has no support from his own family and the only justice anyone can do for this tragic event is to only take their mistake and learn from it.
Its frustrating to me those who think that they are righteous thinkers by saying
"Missing,
I agree that the prose leave something to be desired, but there was nothing particularly salacious about the picture. If more people knew what they or their car would look like in a contest between them and an automobile, perhaps tragedies like this would be less common.
Ventura,
I'm a Camarillo resident so I'm not familiar with the area in question, but I know that there are several unregulated crossings in the orchards and fields between Somis and Moorpark which have seen similar incidences in recent years.
Folks, it's not a bad idea to look around as you approach ANY railroad crossing. You probably don't need to stop, but you ought to be aware, just in case you end up at an unregulated crossing someday. There are still many throughout the U.S. Furthermore, crossing arm malfunctions are relatively rare but not at all unheard of.
The train has right-of-way, the crossing area is an easement. Occasionally someone with well to do family is hit at an unregulated crossing and there is a large judgment against the railroad. In this case, it will probably be quietly settled out of court, probably for less than $100K.
Ryan"
Yeah, um thank you for pointing out the obvious... Some people dissapoint the human race as a whole by being so incredibly cold.
RIP Jack, you were a great friend. We all miss you! Riding will never be the same without you.
Erica
Posted by SpiderWoman on July 10, 2008 at 2:32 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Nicely said Erica! - I am a friend of Jack's dad and I can't tell you how many times I bit my tongue not to lash out at these comments but I figured if they were that narrow minded then they weren't even worth my time. You can't fix stupid!
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