Drunk Driver Trapped on Train Tracks, Cops Shatter Window & Pull Him from Car Moments Before Death
My dad used to like to tell me a story whenever we drove across railroad tracks. When he was in college, he was less than perfectly vigilant when it came to looking for oncoming trains.
While driving some friends home after a night on the town, he found himself peering down a length of track near his school.
“Hey,” he said to the person next to him as he looked out his window, “anything coming?”
“Nothing but a freight train,” his passenger replied. He thought she was joking — only she wasn’t.
Fortunately, that little escapade didn’t do anything but raise some heart rates. Some people, though, have found themselves in deadly peril from trains after they had one too many to drink.
WWJ-TV reported that drunk driving nearly cost then-28-year-old Noel Delahaye her life in Dec. 2016. The tipsy Delahaye somehow got her car wedged on the tracks.
Abandoning the vehicle, she tried to flag passersby down for help, but a train soon struck her vehicle. When no one stopped, she called 911, but accidentally gave them the wrong town.
Authorities eventually arrived, but by then they knew something was up. Delahaye failed her sobriety test.
KFSN reported that a car in Kingsburg, California, got into trouble. A driver had gotten a car stuck on the railroad tracks on Feb. 4. But the driver didn’t just wedge the vehicle in between the rails.
Instead, the driver hit the crossing arms and became trapped on the tracks.
As bad as that was, it hardly compared to what happened next. Just as the accident happened, a northbound train was speeding toward the hapless driver.
Officers arrived on the scene and managed to free the man; they broke out a window and dragged him to safety.
For this particular driver, though, it was out of the frying pan and into the fire. Police arrested him as soon as they got him to safety.
It turned out that he, too, had been drinking. I think the lesson is clear enough: Tequila and trains don’t mix!
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