2 killed after car trying to beat train crossing was hit by Amtrak in SW Detroit

DETROIT (FOX 2) - Two people are killed after a crash between a car and a train on Detroit's southwest side. FOX 2 is told the car was trying to beat the train over the tracks.

"I have a terrible feeling about it, it bothers me a great deal," said Kathleen Dallas.

Dallas was a passenger on the Amtrak train and recalls the confusion just after midnight on Monday.

"The train made a sudden stop all of a sudden just stopped and then the lights went down," she said. "Everyone was like, 'Whoa, wow, I guess we are not going home now."

Dallas says the train stopped for three hours at the scene on John Kronk and Central streets before continuing to its final destination in Pontiac.

Detroit Police Chief James White says officers were clearing a drag racing and drifting scene just before the crash.

"A bunch of cars took off, sadly this particular vehicle in question continued speeding off at some point, makes it to the railroad tracks (and) attempts to outrun the train," White said.

The DPD chief stressed that officers were not chasing the car. A Wixom man and Novi woman — both in their 20s, died after the car and train collided.

"Horrible, tragic, did not have to happen," White said. "This drag racing and drifting situation is absolutely unacceptable."

Now White says Detroit police plan to continue cracking down on drag racing.

"We are going to be relentless in the enforcement of it," he said. "The community deserves it, I get more calls about that than anything else - the safety aspect of it, people getting hit by cars."

White said that drag racing and drifting are also a problem across the country, as well as Detroit.