Jun 14, 2008 4:59 pm US/Pacific
16 Hurt As Muni Trains Collide Near AT&T Park
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5 / KCBS) ―
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Muni workers examine damage to two streetcars that collided.
viewer photo/Aaron Litwin
Two San Francisco MUNI light rail trains collided in front of AT&T Park Saturday afternoon causing 16 injuries, police said.
At 2:15 p.m. a one-car T Third train was stopped at a red light when it was hit from behind by a two-car N Judah train on the King Street track near AT&T Park's Willie Mays Plaza, between 3rd and 4th Streets.
"It basically slammed against something, I don't know what, and then when that happened it felt like there were sparks and my neck hit against the bar on the seat in front of me. People were hurt," said one young woman who was riding on the train during the collision.
SFPD Capt. David Lazar said there were 16 injuries between the two vehicles, with 13 of the passengers taken to area hospitals. The other three were treated on the scene.
Lazar said that the operator of the N Judah said he had been breaking, but the train then lurched forward, colliding with the T Third.
Greg Murray, owner of the Re-Do Salon on King Street, witnessed the collision stating "It was a strong impact. I mean, you could see that things are shattered, there was a ton of smoke, and a huge boom. I mean everyone came flooding out of the buildings to look at what happened."
Jason Frazier, a stylist at the salon, added, "What I did see was the back the train that was hit, came up off the tracks. It popped up. We thought it derailed, or something. We didn't realize they hit each other. The smoke filled the air to where we closed the doors. We could feel the vibration of the train and we saw people fly to the floor."
MUNI officials scrambled to get the disabled trains off the track, all the while preserving evidence of the collision, before Saturday night's popular A's vs. Giants game, scheduled to start at 6:05 p.m. at AT&T Park.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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