By Dan Scanlan
The Florida Times-Union
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — An Amtrak train sheared a car in half Tuesday on Willow Branch Avenue on Jacksonville’s Westside, but everyone somehow survived.
Three people were in the car when the train hit, according to the father of the driver.
“It’s a miracle,” Stacey Peterson said. “To see that much damage, it’s a God-sent miracle. I really thought they were dead when he told me the car got cut in half.”
He said his son suffered only minor injuries and called him to tell him what happened. Peterson said a girl in the back seat was thrown out on impact.
It happened shortly after 11 a.m. near Plum Street. The front end of the car could be seen sitting next to the Amtrak train while the rear section was not visible from the scene.
Two neighbors sitting on their porch about two blocks from the accident said they heard the train, which normally gives a few quick horn blasts as it approaches these intersections, do a long blast and then they heard the impact. They said they were happy that the accident didn’t cause the train to derail, so close to their house near the tracks.
Several authorities at the scene would not comment.
———
©2015 The Florida Times-Union (Jacksonville, Fla.)