Caledonia--They'll be talking about this over beers for quite some time to come at the Depot Tavern on CTH G.
A patron who may have had too much to drink took a wrong turn out of the bar's parking lot Tuesday evening and wound up getting stuck on the adjacent railroad tracks, according to a news release from Caledonia police.
Instead of calling 911 right away, several bar patrons ran outside and tried to lift the vehicle off the tracks--just as a speeding Amtrak train was approaching.
The driver and the patrons ran for dear life just moments before the train hit the car, pushing it down the track a bit.
No one was hurt, either on the ground or in the train. But the crash disabled the engine, and buses had to be called in to transport the passengers to Milwaukee.
The driver fled the scene before police arrived. He was arrested the next day and is expected to be charged with endangering safety and negligent operation of a motor vehicle, police said.
The crash could've been avoided altogether if somebody would've called 911 right away because dispatchers have emergency numbers for the railroads that traverse the county, the release said.
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