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.
