IRVINE : Marine Critical After Car Is Hit by Train

A young Marine, distracted while combing his hair, ran his vehicle through a rail crossing arm and into the path of an oncoming Metrolink commuter train near the El Toro Marine base, authorities said Wednesday.

Lance Cpl. Brian Dean Baker, 24, of Laguna Niguel was in critical condition at Western Medical Center-Santa Ana after the force of the collision threw him 200 feet from his car.

No was was injured among the 115 passengers on the northbound train, part of the new Metrolink commuter service inaugurated by the Orange County Transportation Authority just 24 hours earlier.

Baker was found semiconscious in some bushes near the crossing on Sand Canyon Avenue, just southwest of the Santa Ana Freeway.

“He was conscious enough to talk to officers. Apparently, he was combing his hair and wasn’t paying attention when the train came,” California Highway Patrol Officer Robert Polzin said.

The northbound train was traveling about 76 m.p.h. when it hit the passenger side of Baker’s car, which was going about 60 m.p.h., officials said.

The accident left power lines dangling from a utility pole struck by Baker’s car. Sand Canyon Avenue was closed until about 4 p.m. while workers repaired it, according to the CHP.

Baker was on his way to work at the Marine Corps Air Station at about 6:15 a.m., when “for some reason (he) stopped on the tracks and was hit by the train,” said Lt. Beth Carreiro, a spokeswoman for the Marine base. “His windows were rolled up and he did not hear the train coming.”

The train, headed for Union Station in Los Angeles, was delayed for about an hour and 20 minutes past its scheduled 7:20 a.m. arrival, said Peter Hidalgo, a spokesman for Metrolink.