Sheriff Finds 911 Not at Fault in Train Collision : Emergency: Department says dispatchers did what they could, but a new procedure is needed.

The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department concluded Friday that 911 dispatchers were not negligent in handling emergency calls in the moments before an Amtrak passenger train slammed into a tractor-trailer loaded with cars that had become stuck on the tracks in Leucadia.

After a two-week investigation of the Oct. 3 incident, the department found that a deputy working part time in its Kearny Mesa communications center had tried to reach railroad officials to stop the train before the crash but could not reach them on their 800 number.

Eyewitnesses have criticized dispatchers for not notifying railroad officials before the violent crash at the intersection of Leucadia Boulevard and U.S. 101. Railroad officials say they could have prevented the accident had they been notified in time.

“We’ve finished our investigation, reviewed the tapes and talked to all the people involved,” said Capt. Chuck Lane, commander of the Sheriff’s Department’s emergency communications. “We feel we did everything we could have to prevent that accident.”

Lane acknowledged, however, that the department has learned a lesson from the weekday afternoon accident that injured seven train passengers and scattered cars from the tractor-trailer.

The investigation, he said, revealed that the department needs to establish a written policy for dispatchers to follow when vehicles become stuck in the path of oncoming trains.

“We did not have a specific policy about what dispatchers should do in the specific event that a vehicle becomes stuck on the tracks,” he said. “We’ll have one now.”

Lane said he plans to meet with officials from the Santa Fe, which owns the tracks, to establish the guidelines. He said an emergency number for the railroad has been entered into communication computers and will be easier to find in the future.

“We need to talk with the railroad people,” Lane said. “One hand just wants to know what the other one is going to do if a situation like this happens again. We want to know that if the railroad is going to start stopping passenger trains because of a telephone report that something is on the tracks.”

Several eyewitnesses said they called 911 dispatchers at least 15 minutes before the crash after the driver of the truck ran into a local convenience store to report that his vehicle was stuck.

Lane said, however, that dispatchers received the first report about four minutes before the 2:45 p.m. crash. “Our records indicate that the first call came in about 2:41 p.m.,” Lane said.

“We went all the way back to 2 p.m. on the tapes and listened for other calls. We didn’t hear any.”

Bob Harper, a Santa Fe assistant regional manager in the railroad’s San Bernardino office, said the company has given Sheriff’s Department dispatchers new emergency numbers to call.

“We’ve given them better numbers,” he said. “But I’m not surprised the Sheriff’s Department didn’t find any wrongdoing on the part of their dispatchers. They don’t want to admit to any liability.

“Of course, the real culprit was that truck driver. He should have known what he was doing.”

Leucadia Boulevard is a no-truck route and the driver of the tractor-trailer has been cited for using the road, officials say. Encinitas officials have called for more “No Truck” signs to be posted along Interstate 5 to further warn truckers of the off-limits suburban route.

In response to several complaints about the crossing, Encinitas officials say they will also examine the steepness of the rail crossing on which the tractor-trailer became stuck to determine if more grading is needed.

Lane said Friday that it was the first time that sheriff’s deputies had received any reports of vehicles being stuck at the crossing.

An Encinitas tow-truck driver, however, claims that he responded to two calls from local sheriff’s deputies in the summer of 1989 to remove vehicles that had become stuck on the tracks.

“It really surprises me that the Sheriff’s Department would make a claim like that,” said Carla Bartolacci, whose husband, Bardo, towed the vehicles as a driver for Allied Gardens Towing Co.

“Cars get stuck there. And they’ve had to be towed from the tracks. What are they talking about?”