South Florida - Monday January 29, 2024: A Brightline passenger train was involved in two vehicle crashes over the weekend, one on Saturday and the other on Sunday.
Boca Raton Crash
The first crash happened just south of the Boca Raton Brightline Station. It occurred Saturday evening just before 7 p.m. on West Camino Real where it crosses the tracks, just short of South Dixie Highway.
The two people in the vehicle suffered non-life threatening injuries. One person had to be extracted. The second person apparently fled on foot.
Boca News Now reports that the vehicle "apparently slammed into" the northbound Brightline train, rather than being hit by it. The paper reports that it appeared to be "a failed suicide attempt by either the driver or occupant of the vehicle."
The person who fled on foot was clearly suicidal after he "ran to a nearby building, climbed to the roof, and threatened to jump." Boca Raton Police Crisis Negotiators eventually talked him down and he was taken to a local hospital, according to the Boca News Now report.
Jensen Beach Crash
On Sunday evening, at the downtown railroad crossing in Jensen Beach, a Brightline passenger train clipped a vehicle that was partly on the tracks. No one was injured. The two women in the car managed to get out and away before the train hit their vehicle. They refused treatment at the scene, according to a post on the Martin County Fire and Rescue (MCFR) Facebook page. It happened near the roundabout on Jensen Beach Blvd around 6:49 p.m., according to MCFR.
Jensen Beach Blvd was temporarily closed as a result of the crash.