Lawyer: Truck driver in SoCal train wreck didn't flee

Police stand near the wreckage of a mangled truck after the truck was hit by a Los Angeles-bound Metrolink train during the early morning commute in Oxnard, California on February 24, 2015.(Photo: Frederic J. Brown, AFP/Getty)The lawyer for the driver who abandoned his truck on railroad tracks moments before a Metrolink train smashed into the truck said Wednesday his client didn't flee the scene -- he just went to get help.Jose Alejandro Sanchez-Ramirez, 54, has been booked on suspicion of felony hit-and-run in Tuesday's crash near Oxnard, Calif. Twenty-eight people were injured in the pre-dawn crash, three of them critically."It is clear this was an accident, and the arrest of Mr. Ramirez is the unfortunate result of law enforcement attempting to cast blame on a man who was caught in a tragic situation with no way to stop the oncoming tragedy," lawyer Ron Bamieh told the Ventura County Star. "Mr. Ramirez is despondent and only has concerned for those who were hurt."Also Wednesday, the Los Angeles Times reported that Sanchez-Ramirez was previously cited for multiple driving violations and convicted in 1998 of driving under the influence.The Times says Arizona criminal records show Sanchez-Ramirez pleaded guilty Dec. 2, 1998, to driving with blood alcohol content above .08%, the legal limit in the state, failure to obey a police officer, having liquor with a "minor on the premises" and having no insurance.In 2004, Ramirez was convicted of a driving infraction in Yuma, and in 2007 he was cited for failure to obey a traffic control device, the Times reports.Oxnard Assistant Police Chief Jason Benites said Tuesday's disaster began when Sanchez-Ramirez, of Yuma, Ariz., apparently turned too soon at an intersection. His Ford F-450 pickup and trailer straddled the tracks. Sanchez-Ramirez was found about a half-mile away about 45 minutes after the crash.Bamieh said the truck got stuck and his client panicked when he saw the train coming, got out of the truck and went for help. National Transportation Safety Board member Robert Sumwalt said the truck was not stuck on the tracks but that its emergency brake was engaged.Ventura County Line Train 102 had left Oxnard for Camarillo — and ultimately Los Angeles Union Station — when the crash occurred shortly before 6 a.m. PT.The truck exploded into flames, and three Metrolink rail cars derailed and toppled over, authorities said. At least one other car derailed but stayed upright.Assistant Fire Chief James Williams said that the truck was fully engulfed in flames as fire crews arrived after receiving a 5:43 a.m. call. He described the train evacuation as orderly, but firefighters had to remove some victims from the cars.Will ice, snow shut down the South...again?Feb 25, 2015