Truck Driver, 83, Critically Injured in Crash With Train
An elderly Newhall man was critically injured when a Metrolink train collided with his pickup truck Saturday afternoon, pinning him inside the vehicle.
Joe Smock, 83, approached the railroad crossing at San Fernando Road and 13th Street as the warning gates were descending or already down, said Sgt. Richard Larue of the Sheriff’s Department’s Santa Clarita Station.
The Metrolink engineer was unable to stop, and the 1,700-ton train slammed into Smock’s truck.
“It looked like it hit him in the front and spun him around and hit him in the back,” said Capt. Bernard Deyo of the Los Angeles County Fire Department. “It was totally smashed up.”
Rescue workers extricated Smock from the wreckage and took him by ambulance to Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital in Valencia.
He was listed in critical condition with head injuries and multiple fractures Saturday night, said nursing supervisor Rose Morelli.
No passengers on the northbound train were injured, but the crash disabled the train, Larue said. Passengers were transferred to buses.
The Sheriff’s Department has asked anyone who witnessed the accident to call Deputy Mike Shapiro at (805) 255-1121.
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