Police say a drunken motorist sped past a lowered track-crossing arm in Plymouth in an attempt to "beat the train." He lost.
The train hit the 23-year-old Minnetonka man's car on the left front shortly before midnight Wednesday on Vicksburg Lane near 53rd Avenue, said police spokeswoman Barb Cox.
Police caught the driver soon after as he tried to make a shoeless dash from the scene, Cox said. A passenger, also drunk, remained in the vehicle until police arrived, she said.
The passenger refused medical treatment for a cut on the hand. As for the driver, emergency workers "had to warm up his feet ... as he had taken off his shoes and was running through a field," Cox said. He was checked out at a hospital.
Cox said a preliminary breath test registered the man's blood-alcohol content at 0.148, nearly twice the legal limit for driving in Minnesota.
"The stop arms were down, and the lights were working at the crossing," Cox said, "but the driver approached at a high rate of speed in an apparent attempt to beat the train."
The train, with emergency brakes engaged and horn blaring, "pushed the vehicle off to the side."
The driver was arrested for drunken driving, jailed and released pending toxicology test results, she said.
