Laurie Zimbalardi can’t stop reliving the heartbreaking moments when a tree crashed through the windshield of the New Jersey Transit River Line train she was riding on Monday morning.
“When I close my eyes, all I can see is the image of the glass falling on me, being in the dark, hearing the metal tearing and the smell; I can still smell the smell,” Zimbalardi recalled. NBC 10.
The train was traveling from Trenton around 6 a.m. when it struck a tree on the tracks just north of the Roebling station in Mansfield Township. Zimbalardi, who was traveling with her boyfriend and about 40 other passengers, described the accident as “a scene straight out of a horror movie.”
“Before I knew it, I was against a door, out of my chair,” he recalled. “We kept going and I was waiting for the impact. They lifted us so high that the doors opened. We couldn’t get out. “The men helped the women and children because we were high above the ground.”
According to the courier mail, Zimbalardi suffered a concussion, broken teeth and minor cuts. Tragically, the accident claimed the life of driver Jessica Haley, 41, a single mother of three children.
“My God, I saw it,” Zimbalardi said. “The whole tree pushed her into our compartment. We saw her lying there. I didn’t know she was a mom. All I can say is that I give (the family) my deepest condolences and my prayers are with them all.”
An attorney representing Haley’s family stated that they “intend to pursue this matter to the fullest extent of the law to prevent anyone from suffering the same fate as Jessica.”
This devastating accident marked the second train incident Zimbalardi was involved in in just one week. The previous Friday, at the same time in the morning, he was aboard the River Line when it collided with a truck in Burlington, New Jersey.
Despite the trauma, Zimbalardi says public transportation is her only way to get to her job as a dental assistant in South Philadelphia. “It makes you realize how short life is,” he reflected.
As authorities continue to investigate the crash, Zimbalardi, like many others, must deal with the emotional and physical consequences of the terrifying accident.