PHOENIX — Phoenix police are investigating a fatal crash involving the light rail and a wrong-way driver at 1st Avenue and Washington Street in Phoenix.
According to police, the collision occurred around 2:30 a.m. when a vehicle traveling the wrong-way on Washington Street struck a light rail train traveling southbound on 1st Avenue.
Phoenix Police Sergeant Tommy Thompson said 30-year-old Tameka Talise Spence was driving eastbound on Washington Street, a one-way street that runs westbound.
Although it is unclear if the vehicle struck the light rail or the light rail struck the vehicle, the impact of the crash was so significant, it knocked the light rail train off the tracks, according to Phoenix police.
A light pole was also knocked down in the deadly crash.
The operator of the light rail was evaluated for impairment and it was determined they were sober at the time of the crash.
It is unclear if Spence was impaired; however, police say speed was a factor in the crash.
This is the scene from 1st Ave. and Washington in downtown Phoenix where a driver going the wrong way on a one way street collided with a light rail train. #phxtraffic pic.twitter.com/daXAVLDwcz
— Phoenix Police Department (@phoenixpolice) December 22, 2019
