5 Killed in 2 Collisions of Cars and Freight Trains

Five people, including four men in one car, died late Thursday and early Friday when their vehicles collided with Southern Pacific freight trains in unrelated accidents in Hawthorne and Lancaster.

A 25-year-old Lancaster man and three men stationed at Edwards Air Force Base were killed outside Lancaster when a southbound train moving 40 m.p.h. to 50 m.p.h. struck their 1967 Ford Mustang at about 11:30 p.m. Thursday, splitting the car in two.

The victims were identified as the driver, David Brian MacIntosh, an Air Force reservist who worked as a civilian at the air base, and Senior Airmen Troy Koskela, 21, Charles A. Rose, 23, and Michael R. Harbeck, 21.

In the second accident, Vera Madge O’Neil, 65, of Gardena was killed after she apparently failed to heed flashing signal lights at a train crossing near 120th Street and Van Ness Avenue in Hawthorne, and ran into the side of a slow-moving locomotive.

According to authorities at both scenes, signal lights were working correctly, although there are no crossbars at the Hawthorne intersection.

Southern Pacific spokesman John Tierney said crossing gates are not required at all intersections, although most newer crossings have them.

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Richard Dinsmoor said the Lancaster accident occurred when a car traveling west on Avenue I near Sierra Highway was struck by the train.

Dinsmoor said it was not clear whether the driver had attempted to cut around the lowered gates--a common problem, according to Tierney--but, considering damage to one of two gates it was a possibility. The sheriff’s Antelope Valley traffic division is investigating the accident.

Failed to Stop

In Gardena, California Highway Patrol spokesman Richard Richards said that “for some reason” O’Neil failed to stop at the flashing red lights and hit the eastbound train that was traveling at about 8 m.p.h.

Richards said that although the car sustained extensive damage to its front section, the passenger compartment remained intact. “If she was wearing her seat belt, she probably would have survived,” he said.