Driver Killed In Collision With Moving Train In Tulsa

NewsOn6.com

TULSA, Oklahoma -- The driver was killed after a car hit the side of a moving train overnight Sunday at 2100 North Garnett. The car hit the train with sufficient force to derail two cars, and Tulsa police say the accident scene stretched about two miles before the engineer was able to bring the train to a stop.

Corporal August Terbrock with the Tulsa Police Department said officers were first notified of a broken signal arm hazard at 12:38 a.m. at the crossing, located on Garnett between Pine and Apache. About 10 minutes later, they received a second call reporting the collision between the car and train.

The driver of what is believed to be a passenger car struck the train about midway. The vehicle lodged under the train, and the driver was ejected from the car between U.S. Highway 169 and Mingo, roughly a half mile from the collision site. The car was dislodged just before the bridge at Mingo.

The BNSF train came to a stop just east of Memorial.

"We did find debris scattered throughout both sides of the tracks, all the way from the area of Garnett to about Memorial," Terbrock said. "Many parts of the car were found burnt and smoldering."

Police believe the driver was male and the only person in the car when it hit the train. The cause of the accident and the driver's condition at the time of the wreck are under investigation, Terbrock said.

They did not find any witnesses to the wreck. A BNSF official from Springfield, Missouri was at the wreck scene but declined to comment on the accident.