Man dies after car collides with freight train in Seattle

Published 7:54 pm Friday, December 5, 2014

SEATTLE — Seattle police say a man who reportedly drove around a line of cars stopped at a railroad crossing was fatally injured in a collision with a northbound train.

Detective Drew Fowler says witnesses tell police the man drove into oncoming lanes Friday evening and was crossing the tracks when the collision occurred.

Other cars had stopped for the automatic railroad gates and flashers at the crossing south of downtown Seattle.

Police say firefighters freed the man from the car but he later died from his injuries. He was not immediately identified.

BNSF Railway spokesman Gus Melonas says rail investigators say it appears a southbound train had just passed and the vehicle ran into the side of the northbound grain train traveling on adjacent tracks. The train was bound from North Dakota to Seattle.