Occurred on June 6, 2019 / Swanton, Ohio, USA
Info from Licensor: "I walked outside and saw the SUV sitting on the tracks completely off of the pavement, diagonally. I looked to the east and there was a train coming under the overpass of Hallet St. The trains that travel through Swanton I'd say on average are going at least 45MPH and sometimes faster. It was at that moment that I realized that there wasn't anything I could even do but watch. Too far away to help so I just pulled out my phone and started recording.
After the initial impact, the lights went out after something hit a transformer farther down the tracks. When I saw the woman that was in the SUV walking down the sidewalk a followed her for just a moment. All I kept thinking was 'was anyone else in the SUV?'. I figured since 5 or 6 other people were following the woman that they would have it under control. I was way wrong. The woman got away and it took several day for the authorities to find her.
In the meantime, I had started down the tracks to try and locate the vehicle. As I was walking down this road, more and more people started to appear in the street because of all the loud activity. All I found were pieces of the vehicle on fire, and a wheel with the tire still on it. By this time fire and police had started to arrive. I let them know that I had been smelling propane as I walked down the tracks and feared a tank may be leaking."