(The Associated Press circulated the following article on September 12.)
GILLETTE, Wyo. — A woman drove into a moving coal train after she was distracted by her Chihuahua, which had fallen off a seat in her car.
Both Lee Blake, 64, and her Chihuahua, Cocoa, were unhurt.
“My dog fell off the seat and I grabbed him,” Blake said. “I guess I took longer than I thought. I looked up and I hit the train.”
The crash happened around 11 a.m. Monday.
Police said Blake apparently didn’t hear the warning signals and drove beneath the BNSF Railway gates. BNSF Railway officials said the gates were working properly.
It took 200 yards for the coal train, which was pulling 131 empty cars, to stop.
The hood of the blue 1998 Chevrolet Cavalier was ripped off, the radiator hung from the engine block and the bumper was 200 yards away.
“Usually you expect these to be a T-bone,” police officer Rebecca Elger said. “You’re always surprised when they turn out good.”
Blake left the scene after a quick checkup in an ambulance.
It was Gillette’s first car-train collision in almost two years.