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| New York train derails; 'gravel came flying up,' survivor says - CNN Posted: 02 Dec 2013 08:55 AM PST  First responders gather around the derailment of a Metro-North passenger train in the Bronx borough of New York on Sunday, December 1. Of eight train cars, seven were off the tracks. HIDE CAPTION Bronx train derailment Bronx train derailment Bronx train derailment Bronx train derailment Bronx train derailment Bronx train derailment Bronx train derailment Bronx train derailment Bronx train derailment Bronx train derailment Bronx train derailment Bronx train derailment Bronx train derailment Bronx train derailment Bronx train derailment Bronx train derailment STORY HIGHLIGHTS
New York (CNN) -- Even though the train was careening around a curve, Amanda Swanson felt the wreck in slow motion. All seven passenger cars jumped the tracks. The windows of the coaches broke out. Then, "gravel came flying up in our faces," said Swanson, 26. "I really didn't know if I would survive," she said. "The train felt like it was on its side and dragging for a long time." Swanson, a waitress who was on her way to work at a Midtown Manhattan restaurant, put her bag in front of her face to block the rubble as the car she was riding in flipped over. "I just closed my eyes and kind of hoped to God that I was going to be able to call my mom with decent news." Eventually, the car she was in came to a stop with a thud. "I couldn't see anything. It was just smoke," she told CNN's "New Day." As the dust settled, she saw fellow passengers staggering out of the train and heard them moaning for help. Swanson managed to get off the train carrying her cell phone, its screen shattered but still working. But four others died and at least 67 were injured after the train derailed Sunday morning in the Bronx, about 10 miles north of Manhattan's Grand Central Terminal. "It was a scene straight out of a sci-fi movie," said Beth Barret, who sent photos to CNN's iReport. "Very surreal and very scary." Workers began lifting the rail cars back onto the tracks Monday. Police cadaver dogs made a final sweep of the scene. Doctors treated wounded victims. And federal investigators combed the wreckage, searching for the answer to a key question: What caused the deadly derailment? A dangerous turn Investigators have recovered two event recorders -- one from the locomotive at the back of the train and one from the car at the front. They've downloaded the information from one of them, National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Keith Holloway said, and the other one is on the way to Washington for analysis. Authorities are looking for video that may have captured the derailment, he said. It's not the first time a train jumped the tracks on that turn. A freight train derailed in the same curve in July, damaging about 1,500 feet of track, the Metropolitan Transit Authority reported at the time. "That is a dangerous area on the track just by design," New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said after Sunday's crash. "The trains are going about 70 miles an hour coming down the straight part of the track. They slow to about 30 miles per hour to make that sharp curve ... where the Hudson River meets the Harlem River, and that is a difficult area of the track." National Transportation Safety Board member Earl Weener said the agency would look into whether there was any connection between that derailment and Sunday's crash, but both he and Cuomo discounted the possibility. "The curve has been here for many, many years, right, and trains take the curve every day, 365 days a year ... We've always had this configuration. We didn't have accidents," Cuomo said. "So there has to be another factor, and that's what we want to learn from the NTSB." The train operator, who is among the injured, told investigators he applied the brakes, but the train didn't slow down, said a law enforcement official who was on the scene and is familiar with the investigation. "That will be a key point of concern, whether this train was moving too quickly," said Joe Bruno, New York's commissioner of emergency management. Mary Schiavo, a former inspector general for the U.S. Department of Transportation, said investigators should take a close look at the sharp curve. "It has been there forever, but the fact that we've had other accidents there means we have to look beyond just the fact that the train engineer said that brakes were not working," she said. "We have to see if there's additional issues concerning that track." Metro-North inspects its tracks twice a week, spokeswoman Marjorie Anders said. The most recent inspection found the track was "OK for normal operations." The victims The MTA identified those killed as Donna L. Smith, 54, of Newburgh, New York; James G. Lovell, 58, of Cold Spring, New York; James M. Ferrari, 59, of Montrose, New York; and Ahn Kisook, 35, of Queens, New York. Lovell did freelance audio and was headed into New York to work Sunday morning, said Dave Merandy, a town council member in the Hudson Valley community of Philipstown. "He loved his family and did what was necessary to keep things afloat with his family. He was a great man," Merandy said. At least 67 people were injured, Bruno said. One suffered a spinal cord injury that could leave him paralyzed from the neck down, said Dr. David Listman, director of the emergency department at St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx. The man is the father of a 14-year-old who was released from the hospital Sunday. "It's hard to understand how they were sitting next to each other on the train, and the son walks away with minor bruises, and the father sustained such a severe injury," Listman said. While patients with severe fractures could be released from the hospital Monday, he said, they may require further treatment and mental health care after surviving the devastating accident. "For a lot of these people, the train was their way of commuting to work. I think a lot of these people are going to have to contend with getting back to normal life," he said. "I think that's going to be very difficult for them." Commuting delays The Metro-North Hudson Line had a ridership of 15.9 million last year, with hundreds of people on packed trains during weekday rush hour, officials said. The governor advised Monday morning drivers in the area to plan for a long commute or use the Harlem Line, which runs roughly parallel to the damaged Hudson Line. On Sunday, there were about 150 people on board when the train derailed. Service was suspended on part of the Hudson Line and won't resume until the NTSB finishes documenting the scene and returns the track to the MTA for repairs, Cuomo said. Officials hope to get train service on the line up and running again by the end of the week, he said. Weener said the NTSB hopes to interview the conductor and the engineer either Monday or Tuesday. "That, combined with the data from the event recorders, will give us a pretty good insight into what was going on." Swanson told "New Day" that she's also looking for answers. "I definitely want to know how and why this happened. ... Obviously there was an error. Something went wrong," she said. "I just hope everybody that needed help got the help they needed." CNN's Alexandra Field reported from New York. CNN's Holly Yan and Catherine E. Shoichet reported from Atlanta. CNN's Eden Pontz, AnneClaire Stapleton, Rene Marsh, Kate Bolduan, Polina Marinova, Lorenzo Ferrigno, Alexandra Field, Kristina Sgueglia, Jon Auerbach, Dana Garrett, Shimon Prokupecz, Joe Johns and Mike M. Ahlers contributed to this report. |
| Drag racing called possible factor in 'Fast & Furious' actor Paul Walker's death - CNN Posted: 02 Dec 2013 09:04 AM PST  Paul Walker, a star of the "Fast & Furious" movie franchise, died Saturday, November 30, in a car crash, according to his official Facebook page and verified Twitter account. He was 40. HIDE CAPTION Actor Paul Walker dies Actor Paul Walker dies Actor Paul Walker dies Actor Paul Walker dies Actor Paul Walker dies Actor Paul Walker dies Actor Paul Walker dies Actor Paul Walker dies Actor Paul Walker dies Actor Paul Walker dies Actor Paul Walker dies Actor Paul Walker dies Actor Paul Walker dies Actor Paul Walker dies STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Santa Clarita, California (CNN) -- Drag racing may have been involved in the fiery crash that killed "Fast & Furious" actor Paul Walker on Saturday, an investigator said Monday. Investigators got a phone call tip Sunday suggesting that another car was at the scene when the 2005 Porsche Carrera GT, driven by Walker's racing team partner, slammed into a light pole and burst into flames, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Sgt. Richard Cohen told CNN. "Naturally, from an investigative standpoint, we need to find out if that is one of the issues," he said. Even if drag racing was not involved, investigators are looking at the possibility that another car veered in front of the Porsche and caused the crash, Cohen said. Jim Torp, a car enthusiast who was at the charity event that Walker attended before the wreck, said he doubted drag racing was involved. Walker was smiling as he got into the Porsche minutes earlier. Torp thought he heard a blast in the distance before the car slammed into a light pole, he said. "What the first explosion was, I don't know if their tire blew up, because it sounded like a tire blew on the car," Torp told CNN Monday. Tire skid marks on the asphalt near the crash site, which indicate a car was doing doughnut spins, also are being looked at, Cohen said. It has not been concluded that they are related to the Walker wreck, he said. The street has a reputation for fast drivers, which spurred a crackdown by deputies two years ago, he said. Torp told CNN that he looked closely at the skid marks and concluded they were left by a car with smaller tires. Walker and Roger Rodas, who was believed to be driving, died in the wreck on Hercules Street, a wide business park road, in the community of Valencia inside the city of Santa Clarita, about 30 miles north of Hollywood, according to Walker's publicist and CNN affiliate KCAL. The Los Angeles County coroner has not officially identified the remains of two people pulled from the mangled and burnt car. Dental records will be used during an autopsy Monday to confirm who was behind the wheel and who was in the passenger seat, according to Investigator Dana Bee. Stunned fans, a grieving father Stunned by Walker's untimely death, fans, friends and family remembered what he meant to them and what he did for them. His father remembered him as a loving son who wanted to take a hiatus from acting. A fellow actor said he had just celebrated Walker's 40th birthday. And a U.S. military veteran will forever be grateful for a touching act of generosity. Day and night Sunday, legions of fans gathered near the charred roadside where Walker died. Tyrese Gibson, Walker's co-star in several "Fast & Furious" movies, broke down as he laid a yellow flower at the site. "My heart is hurting so bad no one can make me believe this is real," the singer and actor posted on Instagram. He also shared the duo's last text exchange. Paul Walker Sr. choked back tears as he remembered his son. "His heart was so big," he told CNN affiliate KCAL. "I was proud of him every day of his life." The actor told his father that he wanted to take a hiatus from acting to spend more time with his 15-year-old daughter, Meadow, the elder Walker said. "And then boom, he got another movie. He would say, 'I don't know what to do.'" He said the actor's siblings are having an especially hard time grappling with the death. "I'm just ... glad that every time I saw him, I told him I loved him," the father said. "And he would say the same thing to me." Remarkable generosity Tales of Walker's philanthropy are not new. CNN confirmed one story from a decade ago when Walker noticed a young U.S. soldier shopping with his fiancee for a wedding ring in a Santa Barbara jewelry store. "The groom was just back from duty in Iraq, and he was going to be deployed again soon and wanted to buy a wedding ring, but he said he just could not afford it," saleswoman Irene King told CNN. "I don't think the soldier realized how expensive those rings are, about $10,000." The couple apparently did not know who Walker was, King said. "Walker called the manager over and said, 'Put that girl's ring on my tab,'" she said. "Walker left all his billing info, and it was a done deal. The couple was stunned. She was thrilled and could not believe someone did this." King called it "the most generous thing I have ever seen." Future of franchise At the time of his death, he was working on the seventh film of the franchise, due out next year. It's unclear how the film's production might proceed. When Oliver Reed died in the middle of the production of "Gladiator," the rest of his scenes included a digitally-produced image of his face on another actor's body, Tom O'Neil, editor of the show business website Goldderby.com, told CNN. In some cases, other actors have filled in for co-stars who have passed away. "We don't know what they'll do here, or even if they'll just say, "It may be tasteless to proceed at all because we can't be showing Paul Walker in a speeding car, defying death in a movie that ended up being the way he died,'" O'Neil said. Questionable speed Racing or not, speed was a factor in the crash, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office said. A 45 mph speed limit sign was attached to the light pole knocked down by the Porsche. The car, which sold for $450,000 when new, is a notoriously difficult vehicle to handle, even for professional drivers, according to Autoweek magazine. A top driver called it "scary," the magazine reported Sunday. It is powered by a V-10, 610-hp engine. The wreck took place about 3:30 p.m. just a few hundred yards from the shop owned by Rodas. Both men had attended a holiday toy drive for Walker's charity, Reach Out Worldwide, hosted at the shop Saturday afternoon. Antonio Holmes told the Santa Clarita Valley Signal newspaper that he was at the charity event when Walker and Rodas left for a ride in the Porsche. "We all heard from our location," Holmes told the Signal. "It's a little difficult to know what it was. Someone called it in and said it was a vehicle fire. We all ran around and jumped in cars and grabbed fire extinguishers and immediately went to the vehicle. It was engulfed in flames. There was nothing. They were trapped. Employees, friends of the shop. We tried. We tried. We went through fire extinguishers." A crowd of grieving fans, curious onlookers and media surrounded the crash site for hours, watching as investigators and firefighters worked to extract the bodies from the wreckage. Walker and Rodas had planned Saturday as a day to help survivors of victims of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. The car shop website invited customers to a "Charity Toy Drive & Automotive Social Gathering." "During the holiday season, many economically disadvantaged children from around the world are faced with the same dilemma year after year; the lacking of joy and cheer," the invitation read. "Our goal here is to be able to provide aid to these less fortunate children in hopes of helping them grow up to become confident, responsible and productive young adults." Walker's charity is described as "a network of professionals with first responder skill-sets who augment local expertise when natural disasters strike in order to accelerate relief efforts." Hollywood left stunned by Walker's death Box office success Walker's career began on the small screen, first with a commercial for Pampers when he was 2, and then with parts in shows such as "Highway to Heaven" and "Touched by an Angel."   People we lost in 2013 HIDE CAPTION His first few movie roles were as supporting characters in teen flicks, most notably in "Varsity Blues." But his career really took off when he was cast as undercover cop Brian O'Conner infiltrating a street-racing gang in 2001's "The Fast and the Furious." The box-office success of the surprise summer hit yielded numerous sequels. And along with Vin Diesel, Walker was one of the franchise stalwarts. Walker wasn't just a car enthusiast on the silver screen; off screen, the actor competed in the Redline Time Attack racing series. On his verified Twitter account, Walker described himself as an "outdoorsman, ocean addict, adrenaline junkie ... and I do some acting on the side." Walker also is the star of "Hours," an independent film scheduled to be released December 13 about a father struggling to keep his newborn infant alive in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. CNN's Alan Duke reported from Santa Clarita, and Holly Yan from Atlanta. |
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