TRAIN CUTS CAR IN HALF - Driver survives with barely a scratch

  • Published
  • By Detroit Free Press
LAPEER COUNTY, Mich. --  A Michigan man walked away with only a couple of scratches and a bruise after a train plowed into his car, ripping it in half, at a railroad crossing here in June.

The Lapeer County Sheriff's Office said witnesses recounted seeing 26-year-old Adam Brimmer of Flint, Mich., drive around a lowered railroad crossing gate with signals flashing only to be struck by an Amtrak passenger train headed for Chicago, the
Detroit Free Press reported.

The train, traveling at an estimated 60-65 mph, sheered Brimmer's 2004 Pontiac Grand Prix in two, the newspaper said. Remarkably, Brimmer suffered only minor scratches on his right elbow and left knee, as well as a small bruise on his hip; none of which required medical attention.

"It's amazing that he survived," said Sgt. Craig Miller of the sheriff's office.

Brimmer disputes the eyewitness accounts.

He told WNEM News in Saginaw, Mich., that he was lighting a cigarette 50 feet before reaching the tracks but that no warning lights had come on at that time. Instead, he said the flashing red signal activated at the last instant, and then "boom!"

"I looked to my right, and the train is literally grazing the passenger seat," Brimmer told WNEM.

The back half of Brimmer's vehicle ended up some 50 feet down the tracks, eerily with his 3-year-old son's empty car seat still in the crushed back seat. Thankfully, his son, who he said happens to love "choo-choo trains," was safely at home. Additionally,
a wheel from Brimmer's car flew through the window of a nearby tax preparation firm's building, Miller said.

The sergeant added that Brimmer was given three citations. Amtrak is investigating the incident.