Point Pleasant woman killed in car-train accident

On Saturday, a 19-year-old Point Pleasant woman died in a car-train accident. According to a spokesman from Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Major Crime Unit, the teen was attempting to get around lowered railroad gates as a North Jersey Coast Line (NJ Transit) train coming from Long Branch hit her vehicle, a 2004 Honda CR-V.

A witness to the car accident, who was in a vehicle behind the victim, said the gates were operating properly when the victim was struck by the transit train. All the crossing partitions, flashing signs and bells were reportedly in working order at the time of the accident.

NJ Transit said the train which struck the victim, Train 4775, was headed to Bay Head when it struck the vehicle at 9:35 p.m. At the time of the incident, the vehicle was stopped on the tracks. Reports of the accident came to the Spring Lake police department around 9:37 p.m. Twelve passengers were reportedly aboard the train at the time, but none were injured.

The accident closed the area for nearly four hours for an investigation. Apparently the incident damaged the flashing lights and gates, but those damages were repaired by Sunday afternoon.

The victim reportedly graduated from Point Pleasant High School in 2010 and was a student at Rutgers University Business School. According to sources, hers was the third in a series of incidents involving the NJ Transit line and teens since the beginning of April. The first incident involved a 17-year-old boy who died as a result of lying down on the tracks at 11:30 p.m. on April 1. Shortly after that incident, a 15-year-old boy was injured on April 4 when he was walking along the tracks in Long Branch.

That April 1 incident is still under investigation by the Spring Lake Police Department and the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Major Crimes Unit and the NJ Transit Police.

Source: Ashbury Park Press, “Cops: Point Pleasant teen, 19, killed after car passed rail crossing,” Michelle Gladden, 10 April 2011.