Freight train hit car in Boca Raton Friday night

A freight train smashed a car at a railroad crossing in Boca Raton , tying up traffic for hours, Friday night.

Witness Jeff Johnson was at the Nakava Bar at 140 NW 20th St. near North Dixie Highway when he heard the impact just before 10 p.m.

"We heard a big crash but we weren't sure what it was at first," he said. "Then we heard the air brakes on the train and this car got dragged all the way from 20th Street to almost Glades Road."

The driver of the four-door white Honda or Acura had stopped on the tracks, got out of the car and just walked away, he said.

The car was headed westbound on 20th Street when the southbound train struck the passenger side and dragged it hundreds of feet, witnesses said.

"It was the loudest sound I ever heard," Johnson said. "You don't see this every day."

The freight train, with at least 100 cars, remained at the scene while the wreckage was removed and the crash was investigated. It blocked several railroad crossings north of Glades Road for hours.

Copyright © 2012, South Florida Sun-Sentinel