SEPTA employee charged for DUI crash that injured 4 on SEPTA trolley, DA says
KINGSESSING - The DA's office says an off-duty SEPTA employee was driving under the influence when she crashed into a SEPTA trolley, leaving several people injured this weekend.
Officers arrived to find a derailed SEPTA trolley near the intersection of Chester Avenue and South 52nd Street in Kingsessing Sunday morning.
The trolley was hit after a driver ran a red light then fled the scene, according to authorities. The trolley driver, along with three passengers, suffered minor injuries.
Brianna Satchell-Thomas, 31, was later taken into custody when she returned to recover belonging from her abandoned vehicle.
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Satchell-Thomas, who officials say is a SEPTA employee, is charged with aggravated assault while DUI, hindering apprehension, reckless driving, false reports to law enforcement authorities and related offenses.
This is the sixth recent accident involving SEPTA, with five crashes – one of them deadly – in just one week last month.
As reported, the Federal Transit Administration is probing at least one crash and could decide to perform a more thorough investigation of SEPTA’s safety standards.