Train 'taps" SUV on tracks

The SUV had already been involved in an accident when it wound up on the tracks.

A Union Pacific train struck an SUV on the tracks near the 12th Street crossing at about 3:30 a.m. Tuesday morning, but the driver of the SUV wasn't in the vehicle.

Authorities believe the SUV, a 2000 Ford Excursion, had come to rest on the tracks due to an earlier incident it which it may have been speeding, left the road, and rolled up the embankment onto the tracks a couple hundred yards from the 12th Street crossing. The driver, identified as Christian Danter, 18, of Mountain Home, apparently left the vehicle at some point within 40 minutes or less before it was hit by the train.

Authorities are still trying to establish the precise timeline of events between the initial accident and the SUV being hit. The incident was first reported by the Union Pacific crew on the train.

Danter was identified through vehicle registration, found at his home and taken to the hospital for treatment of minor injuries.

After his release from the hospital he was charged with reckless driving and leaving the scene of an injury accident. He is believe to have been the only person in the vehicle.

Authorities are investigating if alcohol or drugs were involve.

Police said some witnesses, who did not see the accident but believe they saw the SUV driver just before the accident occured, reported he had been driving at a high rate of speed, possibly as much as 100 miles an hour, down S. 10th East Street.

According to Chief of Police Nick Schilz, the driver apparently missed the shallow turn onto S. Main Street), went straight, drove through the barrow pit and wound up on the railroad tracks.

Most of the damage to the SUV had been done "before the train tapped it," Schilz said.