- The officer parked the cruiser on the train tracks while responding to a separate car accident.
- Fortunately, none of the 58 passengers of the Amtrak train were injured in the collision.
- The Greensboro Police Department has launched an investigation into the incident
A police officer in Greensboro, North Carolina, has been lucky to escape with his life after ditching his patrol car at a railway crossing shortly before it was rear-ended by an Amtrak train. However, it doesn’t appear as though any kind of mechanical failure forced the Ford Explorer cruiser to be left on the tracks.
Local media understands that the unidentified officer was responding to a two-car crash on Hilltop Road and, for some reason, they decided it would be a good idea to block off the road by parallel parking directly along the train tracks. It’s unclear why the officer parked on the tracks, but it proved to be a very bad decision.
Read: Train Narrowly Misses BMW Police Car Stuck On Tracks After Botched Chase
Footage captured from the scene shows the officer running away from the patrol car roughly 10 seconds before the Explorer was hit. The Amtrak train, which was carrying 58 passengers at the time, slammed directly into the rear of the Ford, crushing it and completely destroying the SUV. No one on the train was hurt in the crash.
Speaking with WFMY News 2, the Greensboro Police Department said the officer involved remains on active duty and added it’s looking into the crash and conducting an internal administrative investigation. The occupants of the initial crash that the officer was responding to were transported to hospital but were not seriously injured.
While accidents involving police cruisers and trains are rare, incidents at rail crossings across the United States are far too common. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Railroad Administration, there are more than 2,000 incidents and 200 fatalities at rail grade crossings each year. Grade crossings are permitted along tracks where trains travel 110 mph (177 km/h) or less but are not allowed where trains travel in excess of 125 mph (201 km/h).
