Details emerge in fatal Anaheim train collision
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A woman killed when a freight train struck her car may have turned onto the railroad tracks instead of a street that runs parallel to them, Anaheim police said Tuesday.
The woman, identified by the Orange County coroner’s office as Linda Kruger-Small, 68, of Lake Forest, was struck about 5:50 p.m. Monday while on the tracks that run along Orangethorpe Avenue at Lakeview Avenue, Anaheim Police Sgt. Rick Martinez said. The westbound train pushed her four-door sedan about 20 feet.
She apparently got stuck on the track after trying to turn onto Orangethorpe Avenue, Martinez said.
“Her car may have been actually against the track and couldn’t get traction to move,” he said.
One bystander who called 911 to report the predicament tried to help Kruger-Small out of the car and yelled at her to “get out,” but couldn’t save her from the oncoming train.
The train operator sounded a horn and applied the brakes, but couldn’t stop in time.
After the train struck the car, the bystander pulled the injured woman from her vehicle, Martinez said. Paramedics took Kruger-Small to nearby Kaiser Permanente Anaheim Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.
The investigation into the crash is continuing, and police say they still don’t know why Kruger-Small was unable to get out of her car to escape the train.
“Was the door blocked by the tracks? Did she panic and not open the door?” Martinez asked. “There’s just a lot of unanswered questions right now.”
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