2 killed in Baltimore SUV vs. train crash

Incident happened on Camden Line in southwest Baltimore early Tuesday

 BALTIMORE —Baltimore City fire officials have identified two people who died as a result of a crash involving a sport utility vehicle and a train early Tuesday morning.

The incident happened around 6:20 a.m. on the MARC Camden Line train tracks in the 2300 block of Hollins Ferry Road near Paca Street in southwest Baltimore.

City police said Morgan Fleet, 23, was declared dead at the scene. Wayne Burnett Jr., 38, was taken to Harbor Hospital, where he died.

"It was like a screeching boom, like a screeching sound," Valerie Perkins said.

Neighbors in the southwest Baltimore community said they are used to the loud noises made as trains rumble along the nearby tracks. Perkins said she didn't think much of the sound she heard Tuesday morning until she left for work.

"Fire trucks, police and ambulances all over the place. They  had it blocked off so we couldn't get down Hollins Ferry Road at all," Perkins said.

Both victims were in the SUV, officials said. No one else was injured.

Officials said the train pushed the SUV several hundred yards down the track. Investigators towed it back to the crossing, where crews tested the signal to make sure it was working properly.

Fire officials said about 20 passengers on the train were moved to an MTA bus, and operations on the Camden Line were suspended for a time.

All lanes of Hollins Ferry Road were closed in that area for the investigation. 11 News traffic reporter Sarah Caldwell said MARC Train No. 845 was also stopped on the tracks.

It's unclear so far how the collision happened.

"I feel so bad for the people that it happened to, and actually, it was not clear at all," Perkins said.

She said at the time of the crash, snow was falling pretty heavily and it was hard to see. 

The Baltimore City police crash team is handling the investigation.

"Our investigators will look at all the factors involved, from weather to any other evidence that's left at the scene, and we'll piece back the accident and try to figure out what happened," police spokesman Jeremy Silbert said.

While no cause has been determined, Perkins and other neighbors said they've seen drivers make outrageous moves at that crossing.

"I've seen people try to beat the train numerous times," she said. "It's not good to do. I would rather turn around and go the other another way versus trying to go across the tracks. It's just not good. It's dangerous."