Lawyer: Trucker tried to drive off tracks, ran for his life
OXNARD, Calif. (AP) - An attorney for a driver who left his pickup truck on railroad tracks, triggering the derailment of a Los Angeles-bound commuter train, says the man made repeated efforts to move the vehicle before the train arrived.
Attorney Ron Bamieh said Wednesday that Jose Alejandro Sanchez-Ramirez accidentally drove onto the tracks. He made things worse by driving farther to try to get enough speed to get over the rails.
Bamieh says the Arizona man then tried pushing the vehicle before putting on his high beams and running for his life before impact.
The derailment early Tuesday in Oxnard sent 30 people to hospitals, four with critical injuries.
Police arrested Ramirez on a charge of leaving the scene of an accident with injuries.
Workers walk near a Metrolink train engine from a train that hit a truck and then derailed Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2015, in Oxnard, Calif. Three cars of the Metrolink train tumbled onto their sides, injuring dozens of people in the town 65 miles northwest of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
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A firefighter climbs into the wreck of a Metrolink passenger train that derailed, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2015, in Oxnard, Calif. Three cars of the Metrolink train tumbled onto their sides, injuring dozens of people in agricultural country 65 miles northwest of Los Angeles. Metrolink spokesman Scott Johnson told the Los Angeles Times that at least 30 people were injured. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
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A worker stands next to a railroad crossing sign and the wreckage of a truck that was struck by a Metrolink passenger train that then derailed Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2015, in Oxnard, Calif. Three cars of the Metrolink train tumbled onto their sides, injuring dozens of people in the town 65 miles northwest of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
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Firefighters and other officials walk near cars from a Metrolink passenger train that derailed Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2015, in Oxnard, Calif. Three cars of the Metrolink train tumbled onto their sides, injuring dozens of people in the town 65 miles northwest of Los Angeles. Metrolink spokesman Scott Johnson told the Los Angeles Times that at least 30 people were injured. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
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This image from video provided by KABC-TV Los Angeles shows wreckage of a Metrolink commuter train after it crashed into a truck and derailed early on Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2015 in Oxnard, Calif. Three cars of a Southern California Metrolink commuter train have derailed and tumbled onto their sides after a collision with a truck on tracks in Ventura County, northwest of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/KABC-TV)
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Workers walk near a Metrolink train that hit a truck and then derailed Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2015, in Oxnard, Calif. Three cars of the Metrolink train tumbled onto their sides, injuring dozens of people in the town 65 miles northwest of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
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A firefighter crawls out of a passenger train car at the scene of a Metrolink accident, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2015, in Oxnard, Calif. Three cars of a Southern California Metrolink commuter train have derailed and tumbled onto their sides after a collision with a truck on tracks in Ventura County, northwest of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Johnny Corona)
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Workers walk next to a Metrolink train that hit a truck and then derailed, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2015, in Oxnard, Calif. Three cars of the Metrolink train tumbled onto their sides, injuring dozens of people in the town 65 miles northwest of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
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A police officer stretches caution tape across railroad tracks near cars from a Metrolink passenger train that derailed Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2015, in Oxnard, Calif. Three cars of the Metrolink train tumbled onto their sides, injuring dozens of people in the town 65 miles northwest of Los Angeles. Metrolink spokesman Scott Johnson told the Los Angeles Times that at least 30 people were injured. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
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Joel Bingham talks about his experience riding as a passenger on a Metrolink train accident Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2015, in Ventura, Calif. A commuter train bound for Los Angeles derailed before dawn Tuesday in a fiery collision with a pickup truck abandoned after its driver took a wrong turn and got stuck on the tracks. (AP Photo/Christopher Weber)
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A Southern California passenger rail timetable shows the cancelled schedules of the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner at Union Station downtown Los Angeles Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2015, after three cars of a Southern California Metrolink commuter train derailed and tumbled onto their sides after a collision with a truck on tracks in Ventura County northwest of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)
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