A 48-year-old man is facing charges of recklessly endangering safety, and negligent operation of a motor vehicle after a car versus train crash in Caledonia Wednesday night.
Officers with the Caledonia Police Department are not releasing the name of the man pending formal charges from the Racine County District Attorney’s Office.
The crash happened at 9:28 p.m. in the 11000 block of County Highway G near The Depot Tavern. The man was trying to leave the parking lot of the bar when he “went up onto the railroad tracks and got stuck,” according to a press release by the Caledonia Police Department.
Several patrons at the bar tried to help move the car off the tracks. But when an Amtrack passenger train approached, the man got out of his car and those who were helping him ran from the area. The train then crashed into the car.
No one was injured as a result of the crash. But the driver fled the scene before police arrived. The person who reported it said the man “may have been intoxicated,” according to the press release.
The engine was disabled and busses had to be brought in to retrieve the train passengers.
Detectives with the Caledonia Police Department arrested the man on Wednesday.
Caledonia Police are reminding residents that if their vehicle is stuck on the railroad tracks, they should call 911 immediately.
“The dispatch center is equipped to contact the railroad company and have trains stopped,” the press release reads. “A train striking a vehicle could derail and many people could be seriously injured or killed.”
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