Truck Hit by Metrolink; 3 Escape Injury

A father and his two children, ages 2 and 3, narrowly escaped injury when their truck was hit by a Metrolink train at a Pacoima rail crossing after it got stuck under a signal arm, police said Thursday.

The collision, which a police officer described as “a glancing blow,” sheared off the left front part of the truck, but did not injure the occupants, authorities said.

“If the train had hit it any harder, it would have spun the truck back onto the tracks and people would have died,” Los Angeles Police Officer Jack Jung said.

Police said Pedro Aguilera, 30, of Pacoima was driving across the tracks on Pierce Street near San Fernando Road about 5:30 p.m. Wednesday when the signal arm came down across the bed of his pickup truck.

Aguilera got out of the truck and unsuccessfully tried to lift the signal arm. He was also unable to move the truck far enough back to clear the tracks because there were other vehicles behind him, Jung said.

When the train hit the truck, Aguilera was in the cab with his two children, Jung said.

Authorities do not know how fast the train was traveling at the time, however, the Metrolink travels about 79 m.p.h. through that area, Baker said.

Police did not cite Aguilera.