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A three-car light-rail train collided with an ambulance on an emergency call Saturday afternoon in downtown Denver, sending the ambulance and the derailed lead light-rail car careening into storefronts.
The Denver Health ambulance was "running hot," heading northwest on 15th Street on its way to pick up a patient at about 4:30 p.m. when it collided with the RTD train heading northeast on California Street, said police spokesman Sonny Jackson.
No one was seriously injured, although six people were taken to hospitals.
Jackson said the train apparently had the green light at the intersection.
Regional Transportation District spokesman Scott Reed said the ambulance struck the front of the train, which continued for about 50 yards before derailing and veering into the Wolf Camera shop on California.
"I turned around and saw a train coming right at us," Wolf salesman Mark Siegfried said. "The train shattered the glass entrance. There were these crunching noises.
"If someone would have been coming through the front, they would have been toast."
RTD trains travel at up to 20 mph through downtown, and they're capable of staying on their tracks in minor collisions, Reed said.
When an ambulance is responding to an emergency call using lights and sirens, it is protocol for the driver to approach intersections with caution, use a horn and siren to alert drivers, and proceed with caution once a clear path has been established, Denver Health officials said.
Regina and Joe Culloo of Lone Tree were heading northwest on 15th Street and stopped at a red light at California when the ambulance came up on their left and entered the intersection.
"I said, 'They're going to hit each other,"' Joe Culloo said, recalling the moment before the collision.
Of the four people taken to Denver Health Medical Center, one was treated and released Saturday night, one was in good condition and two were in fair condition, according to a hospital spokeswoman. Two of the injured were paramedic James Sullivan, 47, and John Gubernick, a paramedic school student. Both were bruised in the accident.
Reed said two passengers on the train and one in a vehicle near the collision also were taken to the hospital, but none of the injuries appeared to be serious.
The ambulance was on a Code 10 call, the highest state of emergency, when it crashed, said Denver Health spokeswoman Lynn Ercolani.
"Their sirens were on; the lights were on," she said.
The Burns family of Thornton was in the third car of the train after leaving the Colorado Garden and Home Show at the nearby Colorado Convention Center.
They felt a jolt, the train quickly came to a stop, and the doors popped open, said Les Burns, who with his wife, Mary Ellen, brought daughters Eleanor, 8, and Clara, 5, for their first light-rail ride.
A paramedic tended to the girls, each draped in a white blanket.
"They always wanted to ride the train," Les Burns said of his daughters, who were shaken up by the incident. The Burnses planned to have Eleanor checked out by a doctor.
Reed said the speed of the ambulance was such that when it hit the train at just the right point, the wheels of the first rail car jumped off the track.
The rail cars weigh about 80,000 pounds and cost about $2 million apiece, Reed said.
Police were trying to determine late Saturday who had the right of way. They said it was too early to know whether the ambulance driver or the light-rail operator would be cited.
"This is probably the most dramatic (accident) involving light rail," Reed said.
Construction of the new convention center hotel had created a "blind corner" at the intersection of 15th and California, he said.
Jermiah Floyd, 25, of Denver, was in the Wolf Camera store when he turned to see the train car smash through the front doors.
"It was a loud bang," Floyd said. "Then everything went haywire."
"It felt like everything was in slow motion," said Floyd's companion, Lance Haeberles, 47, who was standing next to him in the store after the crash. "We were just stunned looking at it all."
Leon Hill of Denver also was in the store.
"I heard a loud bang and some screeching, then the guy next to me yelled and took off running," Hill said. "I started running, too, even though I didn't know what I was running from."
After the dust from the plaster settled, firefighters were checking the store's walls for structural damage.
No one in the store was injured
The Denver Health ambulance was "running hot," heading northwest on 15th Street on its way to pick up a patient at about 4:30 p.m. when it collided with the RTD train heading northeast on California Street, said police spokesman Sonny Jackson.
No one was seriously injured, although six people were taken to hospitals.
Jackson said the train apparently had the green light at the intersection.
Regional Transportation District spokesman Scott Reed said the ambulance struck the front of the train, which continued for about 50 yards before derailing and veering into the Wolf Camera shop on California.
"I turned around and saw a train coming right at us," Wolf salesman Mark Siegfried said. "The train shattered the glass entrance. There were these crunching noises.
"If someone would have been coming through the front, they would have been toast."
RTD trains travel at up to 20 mph through downtown, and they're capable of staying on their tracks in minor collisions, Reed said.
When an ambulance is responding to an emergency call using lights and sirens, it is protocol for the driver to approach intersections with caution, use a horn and siren to alert drivers, and proceed with caution once a clear path has been established, Denver Health officials said.
Regina and Joe Culloo of Lone Tree were heading northwest on 15th Street and stopped at a red light at California when the ambulance came up on their left and entered the intersection.
"I said, 'They're going to hit each other,"' Joe Culloo said, recalling the moment before the collision.
Of the four people taken to Denver Health Medical Center, one was treated and released Saturday night, one was in good condition and two were in fair condition, according to a hospital spokeswoman. Two of the injured were paramedic James Sullivan, 47, and John Gubernick, a paramedic school student. Both were bruised in the accident.
Reed said two passengers on the train and one in a vehicle near the collision also were taken to the hospital, but none of the injuries appeared to be serious.
The ambulance was on a Code 10 call, the highest state of emergency, when it crashed, said Denver Health spokeswoman Lynn Ercolani.
"Their sirens were on; the lights were on," she said.
The Burns family of Thornton was in the third car of the train after leaving the Colorado Garden and Home Show at the nearby Colorado Convention Center.
They felt a jolt, the train quickly came to a stop, and the doors popped open, said Les Burns, who with his wife, Mary Ellen, brought daughters Eleanor, 8, and Clara, 5, for their first light-rail ride.
A paramedic tended to the girls, each draped in a white blanket.
"They always wanted to ride the train," Les Burns said of his daughters, who were shaken up by the incident. The Burnses planned to have Eleanor checked out by a doctor.
Reed said the speed of the ambulance was such that when it hit the train at just the right point, the wheels of the first rail car jumped off the track.
The rail cars weigh about 80,000 pounds and cost about $2 million apiece, Reed said.
Police were trying to determine late Saturday who had the right of way. They said it was too early to know whether the ambulance driver or the light-rail operator would be cited.
"This is probably the most dramatic (accident) involving light rail," Reed said.
Construction of the new convention center hotel had created a "blind corner" at the intersection of 15th and California, he said.
Jermiah Floyd, 25, of Denver, was in the Wolf Camera store when he turned to see the train car smash through the front doors.
"It was a loud bang," Floyd said. "Then everything went haywire."
"It felt like everything was in slow motion," said Floyd's companion, Lance Haeberles, 47, who was standing next to him in the store after the crash. "We were just stunned looking at it all."
Leon Hill of Denver also was in the store.
"I heard a loud bang and some screeching, then the guy next to me yelled and took off running," Hill said. "I started running, too, even though I didn't know what I was running from."
After the dust from the plaster settled, firefighters were checking the store's walls for structural damage.
No one in the store was injured
(quoted from http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,3...82289,00.html#)
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