On-board camera captured fiery moment California commuter train crashed with a vehicle on the lines and could prove key as truck driver is due in court

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Tuesday morning's Metrolink train crash with a pickup truck left abandoned on the tracks was captured by on-board cameras
Federal investigators say the video could help their search for an explanation as to how and why the incident occurred
Truck driver Jose Alejandro Sanchez-Ramirez, 54, is expected to appear in court on Thursday afternoon
He was arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of leaving the scene of an accident with injuries
The truck caused a crash that derailed three cars and sent 30 people to hospital - leaving three in a critical condition - in Oxnard, California

By Reuters Reporter and Associated Press Reporter

Published: 09:04 EST, 26 February 2015 | Updated: 09:29 EST, 26 February 2015

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Truck driver Jose Alejandro Sanchez-Ramirez was arrested on suspicion of leaving the scene of an accident with injuries and is expected to be arraigned on Thursday afternoon

A commuter train's on-board camera captured a fiery crash with a pickup truck abandoned by its driver on Tuesday morning, and federal investigators say the video could give a big boost to the search for a cause.

The truck driver, Jose Alejandro Sanchez-Ramirez, a 54-year-old from Yuma, Arizona, was arrested on suspicion of leaving the scene of an accident with injuries and is expected to be arraigned on Thursday afternoon.

The video, taken from the outward-facing camera on the front car of the Metrolink train bound for Los Angeles, was sent back to the Washington home of the National Transportation Safety Board for analysis, board member Robert Sumwalt said.

Sumwalt also said that while the truck wasn't stuck in the way that vehicles sometimes get trapped between railroad crossing safety arms, investigators have not ruled out that the truck was somehow stranded and will determine why it traveled 80 feet down the tracks and remained there with its parking brake engaged.

'I don't think anybody would put a car or truck on ... railroad tracks and not try to get it off if there's an approaching train,' Sumwalt said.

The crash in Oxnard, about 45 miles (70 km) northwest of Los Angeles, flipped over three double-decker Metrolink rail cars and derailed two others. It tore apart the Ford pickup truck Sanchez-Ramirez drove onto the tracks after making a wrong turn before dawn.

Thirty people were injured in the Tuesday pre-dawn crash and three remain in critical condition including the train operator who is on a ventilator.

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Three cars of the Southern California Metrolink commuter train derailed and tumbled onto their sides after the collision on tracks in Ventura County on Tuesday morning

Lawyer defends truck driver who caused fiery crash with train

Tuesday morning's Metrolink train crash with a pickup truck was captured by on-board cameras and federal investigators say the video could give a big boost to their search for a cause for the incident

Sanchez-Ramirez was found walking and 'in distress' more than a mile (1.5 km) from the crash site in Oxnard on Tuesday and was later taken into custody on suspicion of felony hit-and-run, police said.

Attorney Ron Bamieh told reporters that the crash was an accident and his client left the scene trying to look for help before eventually finding police.

'The reality is he basically freaked out trying to help people,' Bamieh said. 'Did he do everything like James Bond? No, he did the best he could.'

He said Ramirez made repeated attempts to get the vehicle off the rails and then ran for his life as the train approached.

Sanchez-Ramirez accidentally drove onto the tracks and made the situation worse by continuing forward in an attempt to get enough speed to get his wide pickup over the rails, Bamieh said. When that effort failed, he tried to push the truck and then fled before the impact.

'He hits his high beams trying to do something. He's screaming. He realizes, 'I can't do anything,' and then he tries to run so he doesn't get killed,' Bamieh said. 'He saw the impact, yes. It was a huge explosion.'

A firefighter crawls out of a passenger train car at the scene of a Metrolink accident in Oxnard, California. Three remain in a critical condition including the train operator who is on a ventilator.

Police arrested Ramirez on a charge of leaving the scene of an accident with injuries, but Bamieh said he went for help in Oxnard, about 65 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles

Police said Ramirez was found 45 minutes after the crash 1.6 miles away, though Bamieh said he was only a half-mile away and that he has phone records that show he spoke with police much sooner.

'When someone goes through a huge trauma like that and not only thinking they almost died, but they think other people are dead and you don't know what to do and you're confused ... what is a normal reaction to such an event?' Bamieh said.

Police said Ramirez did not call 911 and made no immediate effort to call for help. But Bamieh said Ramirez, who doesn't speak English well, tried to get help from a passerby, tried calling his employer and eventually reached his son to help him speak with police.

The Los Angeles Times reported on Wednesday that Sanchez-Ramirez had a history of vehicle infractions in Arizona, including pleading guilty in 1998 to violations including driving with a blood alcohol content above the state's legal limit.

Bamieh confirmed his client was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol in 1998 but said there was no indication he was intoxicated at the time of Tuesday's rail crash.

Flames engulfed the driver's Ford F-450 pickup, but investigators said the engine was intact and may offer clues about what happened

Lives were likely saved by passenger cars designed to absorb a crash that were purchased after a deadly collision a decade ago, Metrolink officials said

Metrolink commuter train derailed after colliding with truck

Passenger Joel Bingham said many of those aboard the train on Tuesday were asleep and shocked awake when the loud boom first happened.

'It seemed like an eternity while we were flying around the train. Everything was flying,' Bingham said. 'A brush of death definitely came over me.'

Lives were likely saved by passenger cars designed to absorb a crash that were purchased after a deadly collision a decade ago, Metrolink officials said.

The four passenger cars remained largely intact, as did the locomotive.

The NTSB planned to examine the effectiveness of those cars, Sumwalt said.

The train, the first of the morning on the Ventura route, had just left its second stop of Oxnard on its way to downtown Los Angeles when it struck the truck around 5:45 a.m.

The engineer saw the abandoned vehicle and hit the brakes, but there wasn't enough time to stop, Oxnard Fire Battalion Chief Sergio Martinez said.

The crossing has been the scene of many crashes over the years.

After one killed 11 people and injured 180 others in Glendale in 2005, Metrolink invested heavily in passenger cars with collapsible bumpers and other features to absorb impact.

Metrolink spokesman Jeff Lustgarten said the Oxnard crash showed the technology worked. 'Safe to say it would have been much worse without it,' he said.

Tuesday's crash happened on the same line as Metrolink's worst disaster, which left 25 people dead on Sept. 12, 2008.

A commuter train engineer was texting and ran a red light, striking a Union Pacific freight train head-on in the San Fernando Valley community of Chatsworth.

The train, the first of the morning on the Ventura route, had just left its second stop of Oxnard on its way to downtown Los Angeles when it struck the truck around 5:45 a.m. on Tuesday