The driver of a car that had gotten inside the crossing gates was killed when it was struck by a Metrolink train in Santa Ana Monday, but a dog inside the Toyota Avalon survived.
Officers received a call at 5:30 p.m. about the collision at South Grand Avenue, according to Cpl. Anthony Bertagna of the Santa Ana Police Department. The car was struck by Los Angeles-bound OC Line Train 689 and sent 682 feet down the tracks, Bertagna said.
The driver stopped inside the crossing arms and watched a southbound train pass, then gunned the car’s engine and drove directly into the path of the northbound train, police said.
Bertagna said detectives would work to determine how the man got past the crossing arms, whether he stopped too fast and did or did not see the train.
“There’s a lot of questions that we have that we have to figure out,” Bertgana told KCAL9.
An officer and paramedics attempted to render aid to the man, described only as being in his 60s, but he died at the scene. The dog was taken to Garden Grove Animal Hospital, Bertagna said.
None of the 219 passengers on board the train were injured.