Crime & Safety
Bar Customers Tried Moving Car Stuck On Train Tracks: Report
Police say instead of calling 911, a group of bar customers tried helping a man move his car off the tracks in front of an oncoming train.
RACINE COUNTY, WI — Police in Caledonia are urging residents that in the unlikely event your vehicle is ever stuck on railroad tracks, call 911 immediately. The dispatch center is equipped to contact the correct railroad company and have trains stopped. A train striking a vehicle could derail and many people could be seriously injured or killed.
The reason police are alerting the public to this is because of an incident on July 31 in which the driver of a car and several bar patrons tried moving a stuck car on their own - to disastrous results.
On July 31, just before 9:30 p.m., officers with the Caledonia police department responded to the Depot Tavern Parking Lot for an accident in which a car was reportedly struck by an oncoming train.
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According to eyewitness reports relayed to the public by the police department, the driver of the car was attempting to leave the parking lot and drove up onto the railroad tracks, only to get stuck.
Police said that Instead of calling 911, the driver of the car and some bar patrons attempted to move the vehicle off the tracks when an Amtrak passenger train, traveling north, began to approach. The driver of the car exited and the people from the bar who were helping him ran from the tracks prior to the vehicle being struck by the train. There were no injuries reported, police say.
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According to police, the driver of the car fled the scene prior to police arrival. It was reported to police
that the operator may have been intoxicated. The Amtrak engine was disabled as a result of the collision and busses had to respond for the train passengers.
The Caledonia Police Detective Bureau arrested the driver shortly after the collision. Charges of recklessly endangering safety and negligent operation of a motor vehicle were referred to the Racine County District Attorney’s Office.
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