TRAIN CRASH BLAMED ON DRIVER OF TRUCK.Byline: Staff and wire services BURBANK - An investigation of the Jan. 6 collision between a Metrolink train and a pickup in Burbank that killed a Santa Clarita Santa Clarita, city (1990 pop. 110,642), Los Angeles co., S Calif., suburb 30 mi (48 km) NW of downtown Los Angeles, on the Santa Clara River; inc. 1987. Situated in the Santa Clara valley and nearby canyons, Santa Clarita includes the former towns of Canyon Country, woman and injured a local attorney concluded that the truck driver, who also died, was at fault, Burbank police said Friday. Jacek ``Jack'' Wlodzimierz Wysocki, 63, drove around the crossing arm despite bells, the train's blaring horn and flashing red lights, police said. Two rail cars came off the tracks and overturned, and passenger Grace Kirkness, 76, of Newhall, died a few days later as a result of her injuries. The collision also left attorney Jennifer Kilpatrick paralyzed par·a·lyze tr.v. par·a·lyzed, par·a·lyz·ing, par·a·lyz·es 1. To affect with paralysis; cause to be paralytic. 2. To make unable to move or act: paralyzed by fear. . Kilpatrick, also of Newhall, is well-known locally for her work for environmental groups. Thirty other passengers were treated for mostly minor injuries. Wysocki's son, Tomasz, said his father must have been confused, that he was a professional driver and would not have tried to ``beat'' a train going 70 mph. Wysocki died in the fiery 9:30 a.m. crash, when the 2-ton Ford crew cab Crew Cabs are an extended cab bodystyle commonly found on utes or pickup trucks. This cab design typically has forward-facing rear seating and four front-hinged doors to provide sedan-like accommodations for up to 6 passengers. truck he was in was hit by a southbound Santa Clarita-to-Los Angeles train near the Burbank station. His body was found inside the cab of the mangled truck. The impact was so great that the engine block was thrown out, and shrapnel from the truck was scattered along a 1,000-foot stretch near Buena Vista Street and San Fernando Road San Fernando Road is a major street in the city and county of Los Angeles. It starts off in Castaic as The Old Road, passing through Santa Clarita and the Newhall Pass, where upon its intersection with Sierra Highway near the junction of the Golden State (I-5) and the . In the aftermath, there was speculation that the father and grandfather who emigrated from Poland in the 1970s had made a fatal mistake in trying to get across the tracks before the train arrived. The day of the crash, train driver Jim Cook For the baseball player, see . Jim Cook (James Preston Cook, October 2, 1921 - November 29, 1983) was a Stock Car racer who competed in the NASCAR Nextel Cup series and NASCAR Pacific Coast Late Model series. told KNBC KNBC Kings Norton Bowling Club (Channel 4) that he was looking directly at Wysocki just before the impact. The man's ``eyes were really wide open, and he was leaning toward the passenger side,'' Cook said. ``He had a look of fright. He was moving (the truck), he was trying to get by, and I could tell from my vantage point that he was not going to make it. Kilpatrick, who had been representing environmentalists trying to save an ancient oak tree in Pico Canyon, suffered a crushed vertebrae Vertebrae Bones in the cervical, thoracic, and lumbar regions of the body that make up the vertebral column. Vertebrae have a central foramen (hole), and their superposition makes up the vertebral canal that encloses the spinal cord. . She was paralyzed from the chest down and is undergoing a lengthy therapy program to help her deal with her paralysis. |
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