When looking at the damage from a multiple-vehicle collision near Old Town, witnesses said it’s amazing anyone made it out alive.
The crash involving two vehicles and a tractor trailer happened at 7:30 a.m. at Washington Street and Pacific Highway near the Middletown trolley stop.
According to the North County Transit District, the accident occurred on the tracks and a Coaster train was stopped at the scene of the crash but it was not clear if the Coaster was involved.
A truck driver was stuck in traffic behind multiple cars when the light turned green and the train bells sounded.
There was no room to move forward, no room to go in reverse. The drivers near the intersection literally had nowhere to go according to witnesses.
"It was a green light, but there was too much traffic right there," said truck driver Rafael Navarrete.
Authorities told NBC 7 San Diego the tractor trailer was eight feet too far over the railroad track.
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When the collision occurred, the truck almost flattened a small, black car with a man, a woman and two children inside.
Witnesses say everyone was bloody. One girl was on the ground seemingly in convulsions they said.
A medical doctor happened to be in one of the cars that received minor damage and helped administer first aid before emergency crews arrived.
One witness heard a woman yelling "my baby, my baby," referring to her 14-year-old daughter.
“As I went to go to the back seat the young daughter came out and she was, she was bloody also,” said Thomas V Brown Jr.
San Diego police say the three female victims were taken to hospitals with moderate injuries. No one suffered any life-threatening injuries.
It was pretty apparent that those drivers who witnessed the accident were still unsettled hours later.
Ron Harvey was driving a car on the other side of the street. If the truck hadn't crashed into the two vehicles, it would have been pushed directly into his car.
"I was shaking like a leaf, all nervous, shook up, I'm trying to calm down, you know, but other than that, that was it, you know, I thought for sure when that thing started coming at me I thought oh man," he said.
Police are reminding drivers to take extra care, in areas with heavy traffic near train tracks.
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