A train hit an SUV in Dalton.DALTON, Ga. – Dalton police are investigating a crash involving an SUV and a train.
It was the third vehicle-related train accident in the Chattanooga area so far this month.
Witnesses told Dalton police that 68-year-old Rogelio Nieto-Martinez was driving on Tyler Street on Tuesday when the crossing gates blocking the road from the tracks lowered, according to a news release. Nieto-Martinez stopped momentarily in front of the tracks, witnesses said, but then he lurched forward.
The train hit the SUV “at a low rate of speed” and pushed it a quarter of a mile to the next intersection at Long Street. Paramedics then took Nieto-Martinez to Erlanger Medical Center, according to the release. His condition was not known.
A spokeswoman at Erlanger Medical Center said doctors were still evaluating Nieto-Martinez’s condition.
An 80-year-old man was killed when his pickup truck was hit by a train April 2, and another train ripped an 18-wheeler apart on April 3.