BEDFORD HILLS, N.Y. — A Global Positioning System can tell a driver a lot of things — but apparently not when a train is coming.
A computer consultant driving a rental car drove onto train tracks Wednesday using the instructions his GPS unit gave him. A train was barreling toward him, but he escaped in time and no one was injured.
The driver had turned right, as the system advised, and the car somehow got stuck on the tracks at the crossing. He jumped out and tried to warn the engineer by waving. He got out of the way just before the train slammed into the car at 60 mph, Metro-North railroad spokesman Dan Brucker said Thursday.
The car was pushed more than 100 feet during the fiery crash.
About 500 train passengers were stranded for more than two hours during the Wednesday evening rush hour. The accident also heavily damaged 250 feet of rail, Brucker said.
Men banned from buffet for overly large appetites
HOUMA, La. — A 265-pound man says a restaurant overcharged him for his trips to the buffet, then banned him and a relative because of how much they consumed during their visits.
Ricky Labit, a 6-foot-3 disabled offshore worker, said he had been a regular at the Manchuria Restaurant, eating there as often as three times a week. But on his most recent visit, he said a waitress gave him and his wife’s cousin, Michael Borrelli, a bill for $46.40, roughly double the buffet price for two adults.
“She says, ‘Y’all fat, and y’all eat too much,’” Labit said.
Labit and Borrelli said they felt discriminated against because of their size.
“I was stunned, that somebody would say something like that. I ain’t that fat, I only weigh 277,” Borrelli said.
Accountant Thomas Campo said the men were charged an extra $10 each on Dec. 21 because they made a habit of dining exclusively on the more-expensive seafood dishes, including crab legs and frog legs.
“We have a lot of big people there,” Campo said. “We don’t discriminate.”
The argument over the bill grew heated, and police were called. The police report states that the disagreement was settled when the restaurant said the bill was a mistake and, to appease Labit, the meal was complimentary.
Labit said he insisted on paying but was told not to come back.
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