By FireRescue1 Staff
DETROIT— Amtrak sued the city of Detroit on Monday for more than $75,000 in damages from a March collision between a train and a fire truck.
Amtrak says Detroit firefighters placed the fire truck dangerously close to the tracks. The federal court lawsuit says firefighters failed, “to exercise ordinary care,” reported The Detroit Daily News.
During the March 1 accident, the train engineer applied emergency brakes after seeing the parked engine, but was too late to avoid the crash.
Immediately after the incident, Detroit executive fire commissioner James Mack told the Detroit News, “I’m very upset. I’m going to make it known that this is not acceptable and we’ll do some training,” he said.
Mack was removed from his post early this year.
At the crash site last year, one firefighter was injured and taken to the hospital for a head wound. On the train, no injuries were initially reported, though one passenger later reported pain.
Before the crash, four firefighters had jumped into the vehicle to get it off the track in time, but failed. The oncoming train destroyed the $600,000 fire truck, according to the Associated Press.