An operator was arrested and charged with a felony after a nasty crash in December was caught on video and caused a major train derailment in Collegedale, Tennessee, near Chattanooga and the Georgia Border.
Video of the incident allegedly shows a train striking a 137-foot concrete bridge section hauled by driver Jorge Luis Cruz-Vega, instantly exploding the bridge section and derailing the train.
"On December 20, 2022," authorities "responded to a train derailment at the railroad crossing located in the 10000 block of Apison Pike," a release from Collegedale Police Department reads.
The police report the driver "proceeded across the railroad crossing behind his first escort car without first assuring his tractor trailer could completely clear the tracks. He also did not make contact or arrangements with Norfolk Southern Railroad about his delivery route."
The police also found the driver, while stopped halfway across the tracks, had veered into the oncoming lane of traffic, and not his own.
