A man killed Tuesday when his car struck a train in rural Dixon had survived a similar collision in 2015 that took another man’s life.
Nathan Gates, 21, of Dixon, lost his life Tuesday when his gray Toyota Prius struck an Amtrak Capitol Corridor Train and his car was dragged about a half mile down the tracks.
The crash occurred just after 3 p.m. as Gates headed north on Batavia Road and struck the Sacramento-bound train, which carried 55 passengers. No passengers or crew members were injured, though it’s believed Gates died on impact.
Solano County Coroner’s officials declared Gates’ cause of death a suicide.
No other details were available as Union Pacific officials confirmed multiple times Wednesday that they were only assisting in the investigation as they owned the tracks and Amtrak owned the train.
Amtrak officials, meanwhile, gave a brief email response late in the day following numerous calls that went unanswered. They claimed Union Pacific was handling the probe, though “Amtrak is cooperating with the investigation.”
In April 2015, when Gates was 18, he and Timothy Jones, 26, of Vacaville, were involved in a crash involving a train on Fox Road south of Weber Road. A commuter train was headed west from Sacramento when it struck Jones’ Kia Forte.
Jones was ejected from his vehicle and pronounced dead at the scene.
Gates was subsequently extricated by Vaca District firefighters. He suffered major injuries and was airlifted to the University of California, Davis Medical Center by a CALSTAR helicopter.
