She ignored the "NO U TURN" sign that lights up at every single intersection when a train is near on this route!



Metro train leaves vehicle totaled, none injured

Alena Maschke

Long Beach police and fire responded to reports of a collision between a vehicle and an A-Line Metro train near the Anaheim Street Station Friday afternoon.

Officers received the call at 12:40 p.m., according to Sgt. Miguel Valenzuela, and found the 2000 Lexus LS300 wedged between the southbound train and the barrier separating the tracks from the street.

“Once officers arrived at the scene, we escorted everyone off the train,” Valenzuela said.

A 60-year-old female passenger who was on the train heading to Downtown Long Beach when the accident occurred said she and fellow passengers felt a “jolt” when the train collided with the car on the corner of Long Beach Boulevard and 14th Street.

Shortly after, the woman—who declined to give her name—said the conductor came to check on her and fellow passengers, but no injuries were reported at the time.

Around 12:50 p.m., passengers could be seen filing out of the train cars toward nearby bus stations.

The driver and passenger of the silver Lexus also reported no injuries. The driver, 53-year-old Rebecca Howard, was visibly shaken by the crash.

The Harbor City resident said she was on her way to the nearby Greyhound station, where she planned to embark on a trip to South Carolina to attend her father’s funeral. “I’m not even gonna make it there now,” Howard said.

After mistaking 14th Street for Anaheim Street, Howard said she made a U-turn, which is when the car collided with the train.

Denette Snyder, 47, the owner of the car and a passenger at the time of the crash, said she was scratching off a lottery ticket and didn’t see the train moving toward the car. “I just felt the train hit us,” Snyder said.

Tony Moro, 51, was inspecting tracks nearby when he heard there had been a collision a few blocks north.

A veteran of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Moro said that for the two people in the vehicle to walk off unscathed was not a common occurrence.

“The stuff I’ve seen, I didn’t even see in the military,” Moro said of other crashes. “That right there, that’s a rare thing.”