Errant car ends up on LIRR tracks

A driver lost control of her 2008 Ford Explorer just after 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, hitting two parked cars, crashing through a fence and knocking down two utility poles before coming to rest sideways on the Long Island Rail Road tracks just west of the Centre Avenue train station.

According to East Rockaway Fire Department Chief Ed Reicherter, the woman, a 40-year-old East Rockaway resident who had her 8-year-old daughter in the car, lost control and hit a parked vehicle as she was traveling north on Wilson Street before turning left onto Forest Avenue, which runs parallel to the LIRR tracks. On Forest she hit a second parked car and went through the fence. After that, Reicherter said, “she hit a short light pole and then a high-voltage LIPA line.” Then, he said, the car rolled onto the tracks and flipped onto its side.

The incident was witnessed by a crossing guard and others who were parking their cars or walking to the train station. “We had multiple calls on this one,” Reicherter said. Upon hearing that the car had landed on the train tracks, he immediately notified the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which suspended train service on the Long Beach branch, which runs through East Rockaway. Police said that the woman was suffering from an undisclosed medical condition.

Along with the fire department, MTA and Nassau police responded with their emergency service units, as well as Lynbrook’s ambulance unit.

In order to make repairs, LIPA turned off power to 250 customers for about a half hour.

The woman and her daughter were taken to an area hospital, and were released Tuesday night.

Comments about this story? Mmalloy@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 202.