Witness to Rail Runner collision in Los Lunas shares firsthand account

LOS LUNAS — The Rail Runner collided with an individual in a car parked on the train tracks at the N.M. 6 and Highway 314 intersection in Los Lunas on Friday, Aug 9.

Maria Sedillo, who witnessed the incident that afternoon, was headed north on 314 with her children and was in the right turn lane at the intersection when it happened.

She said during a phone interview that she heard honking and when looking around to see what was happening, she saw an elderly gentleman in a dark-colored car headed west on N.M. 6 who was caught in between the guard rails.

“It looked like he didn't realize they were down,” she said. “He was sitting there watching the traffic and when the train was coming up, that's when he snapped.”

Once he noticed, Sedillo said the man began to try and turn his car left to get around but there were cars behind him and two cars in front of him, so he didn’t have anywhere to go.

“I think the car behind him was trying to back up, but traffic was bad,” Sedillo recalled. “I was yelling ‘move, move!’. Then he turned and looked back at the train and then the train hit him and I freaked out. I didn't know what to do.”

"What I could see from my point of view was that it dragged the car a little bit and pieces of the car went flying. When I got out of the way, I noticed the car was on the side (of the tracks),” she said.

Sedillo said she called 911 right away and let them know what happened and thankfully, first responders were quick to arrive at the scene.

Sedillo noted that it seemed like whoever was conducting the train noticed that the car was on the tracks because it seemed to be slowing down upon impact and after colliding with the car, it was able to come to a stop shortly after.

“My personal opinion is I think if it would have been going faster, the impact would have been much worse, but it was still enough to give it a good hit,” said Sedillo.

New Mexico State Police, who is leading the investigation, said in a Facebook post that the man was injured and was transported to an area hospital. They confirmed he was the sole occupant of the vehicle.

“The extent of his injuries and current condition are not known,” the post read. “There were no injuries reported on the train. The cause of the crash is still under investigation.”