Bossier City police have arrested a man after a train struck his abandoned vehicle early Friday morning causing an entrance to Barksdale Air Force Base to be shut down for a couple of hours.
Jeremy Daniel Parker, 33, of Bossier City faces a charge of reckless operation of a motor vehicle. An investigation found that just before 4 a.m. Parker was driving his car at a high rate of speed eastbound in the 3600 block of Industrial Drive when he lost control of the vehicle in a curve causing it to travel onto the railroad tracks that run along the roadway and get stuck.
Parker left the car on the tracks and walked to Sue’s Country Kitchen Restaurant in the 4600 block of East Texas Street where an employee contacted police after Parker told her what happened. Police made contact with Parker at the restaurant but before officers could get to the vehicle, a westbound freight train struck it. The train came to a stop blocking two railroad crossings including one that leads to the Industrial Drive Gate of Barksdale Air Force.
The train was cleared the tracks about two hours later after police and railroad personnel finished working the scene. There were no reported injuries.
Parker was subsequently taken into custody and booked into the Bossier City Jail.
