Drivers cite safety arm problem

Issue occurred day before train carrying lawmakers hit truck

CROZET, Va. — The safety arms at a railroad crossing where a train carrying Republican lawmakers slammed into a garbage truck appeared to be malfunctioning the day before the deadly crash, drivers who regularly cross over the tracks at the crash scene said Thursday.

Gene Locke, who lives near the tracks in Crozet, said he pulled up to the crossing between 8:30 and 9:30 a.m. Tuesday and saw that the safety arms were down and the signal light was flashing, but there was no train approaching from either direction. After waiting a minute or so, he backed up, turned around and took a different route, assuming there was either a malfunction of the signal crossing or workers were testing it.

“I did not report this, as it was the first time this has happened in my observation since I have been using that crossing for several years,” Locke told The Associated Press.

Jane Rogers, who lives about 2 miles from the crash site, said that when she arrived at the crossing Tuesday, the gate was down, even though there were no trains approaching. She said after waiting, one car in front of her and two cars behind her turned around. Then as she started to turn around, the gate went up. One car then crossed the tracks, but Rogers said she waited another 30 seconds, then the gate went down again. No trains passed, she said.

“It was a weird up-and-down thing,” she said. “Then the next day, the accident happened at that intersection.”

Rogers said she reported the trouble to the police after she heard about the fatal crash. She said she would have called about the malfunctioning arm on Tuesday, “but who do you call? No one knows.”

The lawmakers were on their way to a strategy retreat in West Virginia when the collision occurred around 11:20 a.m. Wednesday in Crozet, about 125 miles southwest of Washington.

An employee of the trash company, Time Disposal, was killed. The company identified him as Christopher Foley, 28, and said he was the father of a 1-year-old boy. Six others were injured.

One remained in critical condition Thursday. One other person remained hospitalized in fair condition. Four people were released.