Slush Pile: Sexy High Heels Leads to Death

2007 Slush Pile

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Sexy High Heels Leads to Death

2007 Reader Submission
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Pair killed by train in freak accident in Riverside

The young women were from San Bernardino, officials say. Their car had become stuck near railroad tracks. By Francisco Vara-Orta, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer November 2, 2007 Two women who escaped from their car when it became stuck on train tracks in Riverside early Thursday were killed when the train hit the vehicle and dragged it over them as the women tried to leave the scene, apparently struggling in their high heels, authorities said today.

"This was really a freak situation," said Steven Frasher, a Riverside police spokesman. "The two women seemed to just get caught in a bad situation, and we don't know how much warning they had before the collision."

Investigators believe that shortly after 12 a.m. Thursday, a 1996 Honda Passport turned south from Mission Inn Avenue onto a crushed rock shoulder that parallels the train tracks and became stuck in the gravel while attempting a U-turn.

The two women, the car's only occupants, then got out of the car and were trying to walk back to Mission Inn Avenue when the train struck the vehicle, Frasher said.

The impact wedged the car between the train and a high concrete wall that runs closely next to the tracks, dragging the vehicle toward the women.

The driver, Renee Ammari, 23, and her passenger, Tanya Nicole Sayegh, 18, were residents of San Bernardino, according to the Riverside County coroner's office.

The women were trapped between the train and the wall and crushed by the vehicle as it was dragged over them, Frasher said.

"It appears they were in high heels and having a hard time getting away quickly with the gravel they were walking on," he said.

At 12:55 a.m., Riverside police officers were called to the scene, Frasher said.

The women were taken to Riverside Community Hospital, where Sayegh was pronounced dead.

Ammari died about 6:30 a.m., Frasher said.

"If the girls had maybe exited the other side of their car, they may have not been hit," Frasher said.

"But it's one of those cases where you might not always see the danger until it's too late."

francisco.varaorta@latimes.com

(CBS) RIVERSIDE Two young women who walked away from an SUV after it became wedged between train tracks and a wall were fatally injured on Thursday when a locomotive clipped the vehicle and sent it slamming into them, police said.

"This is an incredibly tragic thing to happen," said Steven Frasher, spokesman for the Riverside Police Department.

He said San Bernardino residents Tanya Nicole Sayegh, 18, and Renee Ammari, 23, both suffered "massive physical trauma."

They were taken to Riverside Community Hospital, where the younger woman died about two hours after the 1 a.m. crash.

Ammari, the registered owner of the SUV and presumed driver, was pronounced dead at 6:05 a.m., according to the Riverside County coroner.

The women were in the area of Mission Inn Avenue, near Santa Fe Avenue, when the driver made a sharp right turn for unknown reasons and ended up on the gravel-lined shoulder between the train tracks and a retaining wall, Frasher said.

The SUV continued traveling on the baseball-sized rocks for a short distance. The driver unsuccessfully tried to turn the vehicle around to get out of the area, but the SUV became wedged between the rails and the wall, Frasher said.

The women then got out of the SUV and tried walking back to the intersection. But a Union Pacific freight train came up behind them and clipped a corner of the vehicle, pushing it into the victims and "bulldozing" them down, Frasher said.

According to the reports, either their sexy high heel shoes or lack of time could be the cause of their deaths.

Submitted on 11/02/2007

Submitted by: Walter
Reference: Los Angeles Times & KCBS/KCAL-TV, 11/2/07

>> Moderator Scores <<

Bruce said:
Maybe Toss: Other
I'm a bit torn on this. The visual of the two women walking down the gravel grade in high heels is amusing, but then I also think that what they did after getting the car stuck was perfectly reasonable. They got out of the car and tried to get away from it and to a safer area, which is exactly what they should have done. I seriously doubt they would have considered that a train hitting the car would have done what it did. And since the police said that simply getting out of the other side of the car may have been enough to have saved their lives this really sounds like nothing more than a horrible accident and really unfortunate set of circumstances. Thanks just the same, Walter.

James said:
Definitely Toss: No Self-Selection
I don't think there was any stupidity involved here, and the untimely arrival of the train was sheer bad luck. Besides, it would have been almost as (if not equally) difficult to walk barefoot on railroad ballast. Thanks anyway, Walter!

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2007 Slush Pile

Sexy High Heels Leads to Death

2007 Reader Submission Pending Acceptance

2007 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance