No person arrested yet for theft of vehicle

No one had been arrested by Thursday in connection with the theft of a vehicle, which was later abandoned on a railroad crossing in northeast Shawnee County, authorities said.

Police department officials were unavailable Thursday, but sheriff's department spokesman Capt. Rick Hladky said Thursday afternoon that he hadn't learned of any arrests in connection with the incident.

Topeka police records indicated the 1989 Ford Tempo had been stolen between 10:30 and 11 p.m. Tuesday from the 2400 block of S.E. Bellview. Lynette Root, the vehicle's owner, said she had just returned home Tuesday night and fell asleep for a few minutes. When she woke up later that night, she said, she noticed that her vehicle was missing.

Root called police, who called her Wednesday morning with the news that her vehicle had been left on a railroad crossing in the 400 block of N.E. Herschell. An Amtrak passenger train slammed into the car about 2:20 a.m., destroying the vehicle.

The vehicle was insured, Root said.

The vehicle theft from the 2400 block of S.E. Bellview was being investigated by the police, but any charges related to the criminal damage -- to the vehicle and train -- would be handled by the Shawnee County Sheriff's Department, Hladky said.

No major damage to the train was reported by Amtrak officials. Ray Lang, an Amtrak spokesman in Chicago, said the train was delayed about an hour and suffered only minor damage to the metal plow on the front of the train. The train had been traveling about 79 mph when it struck the vehicle, Lang said.

And although $500 in damage was done to a railroad track switch, train traffic wouldn't be affected by the crash, said Steve Forsberg, spokesman for Burlington Northern Santa Fe. BNSF owns the track where the incident occurred.

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