OXNARD, Calif. (AP) — Federal investigators say they are trying to determine why a pickup truck driver drove on to tracks and abandoned his truck, leading to a train crash that left three cars derailed and dozens injured in Southern California.
National Transportation Safety Board member Robert Sumwalt said at a media briefing late Tuesday at the crash site in Oxnard that the truck was not stuck or bottomed-out as had earlier been reported by officials.
Sumwalt also said that the badly wrecked truck's emergency brake was in the on position and its headlight switch was in the high-beams position after the pre-dawn crash.
The 54-year-old driver was found more than a mile from the site and was later arrested on suspicion of hit-and-run.
Thirty people were examined at hospitals after the wreck, but only eight were admitted, including four in critical condition.
