Elderly couple escape serious injuries in crash with train

Published 1:30 am Thursday, October 19, 2017

STANWOOD — A head-on crash with a slow-moving train left a couple in their 80s with no serious injuries late Wednesday near Stanwood.

The driver, 89, of La Conner, started heading down the tracks instead of the road around 8:30 p.m. off Pioneer Highway west of Lake Ketchum, according to the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office.

Their SUV collided head-on with a passenger train that was moving about 5 mph, because of a problem with the railroad switch, according to police.

No one was hurt, which was “basically a miracle,” said Shari Ireton, spokeswoman for the sheriff’s office.

Troopers cited the driver for driving under the influence, said Washington State Patrol trooper Travis Shearer. The man was not booked into jail.