No one cited in train versus SUV crash

ENDICOTT — No one was seriously injured or cited in a Dec. 18 collision where a train struck an SUV and pushed it 225 feet down the tracks.

According to the report issued by Whitman County Sheriff’s Office deputy Michael Melcher, the incident occurred before sunrise sometime between 6:40-6:50 a.m. at the train track crossing on 3rd Street.

A 1999 GMC Yukon driven by Jonathan Taylor, 47, of Endicott, was struck on the front side by a Union Pacific grain train with 30 cars and two diesel electric locomotives. The report noted it was dark at the time and there were no street lights, crossing arms or red railroad crossing lights, nor did the train sound its horn.

The vehicle was crossing the tracks at about 15 mph when it was struck by the train traveling at about 10 mph from the northwest, the report said. A conductor standing on the back of the train saw the car just before the collision, radioed the engineer to stop and jumped off the train without incident, according to the report. The engineer braked and the train stopped approximately 75 yards from the street crossing, the report said.

Taylor had a sore chest and some minor cuts on his hand and was transported to the hospital in a personal vehicle as a precaution.

According to Melcher’s report, the conductor described the approach as “kind of a blind spot” with the tracks coming between two grain towers that block much of the field of vision of the road.

Melcher determined the incident did not satisfy the elements needed to cite Taylor for failure to yield to a train, including lack of lighting and visual or audible signals.