On Friday morning, January 7, 2014, a 14 year-old girl was struck and killed by a VTA light-rail train in San Jose, California. The accident occurred at about 7:30 AM as the teenager, Danika Garcia, was riding her bicycle on her way to school.
Witnesses at the scene of the crash stated that one of the warning arms wasn’t coming down at the VTA light rail crossing. A witness who was walking behind Garcia stopped when he heard the warning bells ring at the railroad crossing. The bicycling teen was wearing headphones at the time and continued to pedal forward. She was struck by the train when she began to cross the tracks.
Garcia was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries and died later that day. No passengers on the train were injured. Train service was temporarily suspended after the crash. It was restored early that afternoon.
The Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Department has jurisdiction over trains operated by the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority and is investigating the railroad crossing death. Investigators want to know conclusively if the crossing arms came down. They are interviewing witnesses and reviewing video of the deadly collision. The cause of the crash has not yet been determined.
