PLACENTIA : Train Demolishes Disabled Pickup

The driver of a pickup truck that skidded onto railroad tracks after a collision with another car early Thursday escaped just moments before it was demolished by an oncoming freight train, police said.

The 6:40 a.m. mishap began as the pickup truck driver, Kerynne Arlene Calvin, 47, of Yorba Linda, made a left turn from westbound Orangethorpe Avenue onto Jefferson Street, across railroad tracks that parallel Orangethorpe Avenue.

While speeding across the tracks, in an attempt to avoid the lowering signal crossing arms, Calvin failed to see an oncoming sedan driven by William Frank Doneske, 42, of Whittier, said Placentia Police Lt. Daryll Thomann.

Doneske struck Calvin’s vehicle and the impact spun her around with the rear end of the truck protruding onto the railroad tracks. As a Santa Fe Railway freight train approached, Doneske helped Calvin out of the truck and both ran for cover as the train struck the stalled vehicle, Thomann said. Neither suffered injuries.

Police cited Calvin for failing to yield to oncoming traffic in a left turn.