1 dead after SUV driver crashes through chain link fence, lands on BART tracks in Pittsburg
1 dead after SUV driver crashes through chain link fence, lands on BART tracks in Pittsburg
A man died Thursday morning after the SUV he was in crashed through a chain link fence and then landed on the BART tracks near the Pittsburg/Baypoint station in a situation that stopped train service for roughly four hours, officials said.
PITTSBURG, Calif. - A man died Thursday morning after the SUV he was in crashed through a chain link fence and then landed on the BART tracks near the Pittsburg/Baypoint station in a situation that stopped train service for roughly four hours, officials said.
What we know:
California Highway Patrol Officer Cody Holley told KTVU that a female passenger was also in the BMW and survived; she was talking to emergency crews on her way to the hospital, after the crash was reported at about 3:45 a.m. in the eastbound direction of Highway 4 at the Bailey Road offramp.
Holley said neither the man nor the woman were wearing seatbelts.
The man died after he was ejected from the SUV, the CHP said.
What we don't know:
Holley said the driver was speeding, but he didn't say how fast.
He also didn't know if the driver was impaired by drugs or alcohol. And he also didn't know who was driving, the man or the woman.
Local perspective:
At first, BART officials said that the SUV landing on the tracks did "significant damage" to the third rail and infrastructure, but BART workers at the scene said they didn't think it was all that bad, and they were able to clear trains just before 8 a.m.
BART also shared a photo of the crash, showing the front end of the gray BMW which had driven up on the tracks. The photo showed that the airbag had deployed.
BART spokeswoman Alicia Trost said this type of event is very rare.
She could only recall "three or four times" in recent memory that a car had crashed through barriers to land on BART tracks.