FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - Newly surfaced surveillance video and witness accounts have provided more details about a Brightline train crash in Oakland Park that left an elderly woman dead.
The footage from a camera at a nearby business captured the moment the train collided with a car that appeared to be stopped at the tracks at Cypress Creek Road near Dixie Highway, Tuesday afternoon.
Investigators said the car came to a stop in Fort Lauderdale.
“I heard this big bang. It shook the whole building,” said a witness.
The video is murky, but it appears to show the driver going around the guardrails before stopping on the tracks.
Moments later, the train roared by and smashed into the car.
“It’s like 100 yards that she got dragged. It’s just unfortunate,” said witness Matt McIsaac.
Over the past three years, at least 64 people have been killed on the tracks by trying to beat Brightline trains, despite multiple warnings.
“In almost all cases, people are ignoring and circumventing the warning lights, sounds, safety signs and crossing gates,” said Broward Sheriff’s Office Col. Steven Robson.
During the month of May alone, multiple fatal crashes involving Brightline trains have taken place in Hollywood and Pompano Beach.
“In the past few months, every week, something goes by and another person gets hit. It’s kind of crazy,” said McIsaac.
Officials continue to plead with drivers to pay attention and obey the cross guards.
“It’s all about the people paying attention to what’s going on,” said the witness who heard the crash. “I mean, life’s life. It only happens one time.”
Investigators said the victim in Tuesday’s crash was 84 years old.
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