Blue Line Injures Motorist at Central

Two Transit Accidents Leave One Dead, Five Injured

Los Angeles Times
By Nieson Himmel
April 19, 1991

An RTD bus and a Metro Rail Blue Line train, also operated by the transit authority, were involved in separate accidents in Los Angeles on Thursday, leaving one man dead and five people injured-two critically, authorities said.

The fatality occurred when a car carrying five people spun out of control near Crenshaw and Pico boulevards and slammed into the bus at 4 p.m., fire officials said.

A passenger in the car was dead at the scene and two other occupants of the vehicle were taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where they were in critical condition, a spokesman for the Fire Department said.

Two others in the car were examined at the scene and released, the spokesman said.

In the second accident, a car made a left turn in front of the Blue Line train at Washington Boulevard and Central Avenue just south of downtown Los Angeles at 4:30 p.m., RTD officials said.

The car's driver suffered minor injuries and was treated at the scene by paramedics, said RTD spokeswoman Jennifer Elliott.

Two passengers on the commuter train also complained of minor injuries, she said.

None of the victims in either incident was identified by authorities.

Blue Line Hits Compton Woman & Puts Her in Critical Condition

Blue Line Strikes Auto, Critically Injuring Driver

Los Angeles Times
January 16, 1991

A Metro Blue Line train collided with a small foreign car Tuesday, critically injuring a 38-year-old motorist who police say "drove around safety gates" at a Compton intersection.

The driver, Sherril McDowell, suffered major head, chest and rib cage injuries and her Volkswagen bug was crushed, Compton Police Lt. Joseph Flores said. She was taken to Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center for treatment.

McDowell was driving west on Alondra Boulevard approaching Willowbrook Avenue shortly before noon when she drove around railroad gates and into the path of the train, which was heading south about 40 m.p.h., Flores said.

The accident is thought to be the 35th involving the Blue Line since it began operating on July 14, a Rapid Transit District spokeswoman said.