Sean Baugh, artistic director of the Turtle Creek Chorale and music director for Cathedral of Hope, said he feels OK after colliding with a train that was crossing Cedar Springs Road.
“Girl, I got hit by a train,” Baugh said. “Who gets hit by a train?!”
The accident took place after 11 p.m., on Cedar Springs Road between Cathedral of Hope and Mockingbird Lane. There is an unmarked and unlighted train crossing for tanker cars to deliver to warehouses in the area.
Baugh said he saw a man in the street waving his arms without even a flashlight. The black tanker cars crossing the road, though, were not visible in the dark at the unlit crossing. By the time Baugh could slam on his brakes, he was wedged between cars of the train. The train collided with the driver’s door-side of the car, and Baugh said the driver’s side airbag didn’t deploy, probably because it was punctured.
Baugh said he moved to the middle of the car to avoid injury.
“Had the train not stopped, it would have crushed me in the car,” he said.
When the train stopped, Baugh was able to crawl out of the car. Police that responded told him they were surprised he survived.
Another Cathedral of Hope employee was involved in a similar accident at this same crossing several years ago.