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AP Photo/Nick Ut
LAPD traffic detectives are seeking the public’s help with additional information that could help explain the cause of yesterday's traffic collision which involved two cars and a Mertolink train.
As the LAPD tells it, here's what happened:
On December 23, 2009, at around 7:00 a.m., a 35-year-old female resident of North Hills was driving northbound on San Fernando Road just south of Branford Street in a 1992 Toyota Camry. She pulled her car to the side of the road to yield for two emergency vehicles driving southbound on San Fernando Road from Branford Street with their lights and sirens on. The woman was accompanied by her boyfriend and her 2-year-old baby, who was secured in a child safety seat in the rear passenger section of the car. A 38 year-old male resident of Sun Valley was also driving northbound on San Fernando Road in a 2005 Nissan Frontier pick-up, when he collided into the rear of the Camry. The impact of the crash forced the Toyota into the railway ditch, while the pick-up truck continued in a northeasterly direction and was launched across the ditch onto the Mertolink train rail. Moments after, a Metrolink commuter train carrying 39 passengers, traveling northbound, collided with the pick-up truck causing it to overturn and tumble into the ditch just north of the Camry.
Anyone with information about the incident is encouraged to contact Valley Traffic Division Detectives at (818) 644-8034 or 1-877-LAPD-24-7.
