Victim identified in fatal LIRR-vehicle crash

A woman killed early Saturday after a train struck her vehicle on the tracks just east of the Northport station has been identified as Elizabeth Gallagher, of East Patchogue, an LIRR spokeswoman said Sunday.

The vehicle ended up on the tracks after the driver appeared to have lost control, said an MTA spokeswoman. The vehicle then struck a guardrail on Pulaski Road, went airborne, and came to rest on the tracks, the MTA spokeswoman said.

An MTA police investigation is ongoing.

Police found the driver ejected from the vehicle, but it is not immediately clear whether the driver was ejected in the initial crash or by the impact of the train, officials said.

The vehicle was struck at about 2:10 a.m. by an eastbound train on the Long Island Rail Road’s Port Jefferson Branch, officials said.

Gallagher, 29, was pronounced dead at the scene. She was the only passenger in the vehicle and no one on the train was injured, officials said.

The crash temporarily suspended service on that branch of the railroad, and service was restored at about 7 a.m. Saturday.

Photos from the scene show a mangled overturned vehicle off to the side of the tracks.

By Craig Schneider

craig.schneider@newsday.comScraigo

Craig Schneider is a Long Island native and Stony Brook University alumnus. He joined Newsday as a general assignment reporter in January 2018 after 20 years at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.