PHILADELPHIA — As if the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority wasn’t having enough problems lately, one of its trolleys was struck Sunday by a driver who allegedly ran a red light, injuring four people.
Which might not seem like a SEPTA issue — except that that the Philadelphia Inquirer reports the driver of the vehicle turned out to be an off-duty SEPTA employee.
The collision in Southwest Philadelphia at about 6:30 a.m. derailed the trolley and caused what a SEPTA spokesman called “minor injuries” to the operator and three passengers.
Police said the driver, Brianna Satchell-Thomas, 31, of King of Prussia, Pa., initially left the scene, but was identified by a SEPTA pay stub in the vehicle that included her name and address.
According to the Inquirer, an arrest report says Satchell-Thomas returned to get her purse and other belongings and exhibited bloodshot eyes and slurred speech. She told the police the car wasn’t hers and she wasn’t driving it, although motor vehicle records show she is the owner. The arrest report describes her as “boisterous,” says she refused a DUI test, and was uncooperative. Police told the paper she is expected to be charged with aggravated assault while driving under the influence among other crimes.
A SEPTA spokesman confirmed Satchell-Thomas is a maintenance custodian and was not traveling to or from work at the time of the accident.
The National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Transit Administration are among agencies currently involved after SEPTA buses and trolleys were involved in five accidents in the span of a week in July. One of those saw a trolley derail and crash into a building dating to 1766 [see “Three injured as SEPTA trolley derails …,” Trains News Wire, July 28, 2023]; another, involving two buses, killed a 72-year-old woman.
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