Two In Custody After Car Hits CTA Pink Line Train In Cicero
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A driver was injured early Thursday when a car struck a Pink Line train after driving around warning gates in west suburban Cicero.
Around 2 a.m., a westbound Pink Line train was approaching 50th Avenue in Cicero, when a car tried to go around the crossing gate, and struck the side of the train, according to the CTA.
"We felt a big crash. We felt the train kind of tip over a little bit, and then all the lights went out, and all of a sudden, all power gets cut, and we look outside the window, and the thing that goes down for the train was flipped over completely, and the car's wedged in between next to the train," CTA passenger Oscar Sanchez said.
Westbound service on the Pink Line was suspended between 54th/Cermak and Central Park after the crash, and the CTA was providing shuttle buses between those two stops. Normal service was restored by 4:30 a.m. Eastbound service was not affected.
Cicero spokesman Ray Hanania said the woman driving the car and a male passenger abandoned the vehicle after the crash. The driver was found a short time later at a nearby home. The passenger was found about 30 minute later about six blocks away. Hanania said both were in custody, pending a DUI investigation.
Ten passengers were on the train at the time, but were not injured. The train's operator and the driver of the car were taken to the hospital for treatment of minor injuries, according to Hanania.
The crash knocked over a crossing gate. CTA crews were working to repair it Thursday morning.
