Florida’s high-speed train Brightline was involved in another fatal accident. According Melbourne Police Department, Charles Julian Phillips, 62, of Melbourne, was driving a Honda Element SUV that was heading west on W H Jackson Street and struck a northbound Brightline train on the westernmost railway. The accident occurred around 2 p.m. on Jan. 10. Passengers inside the SUV were Keisha Balingei Gonzalez, 48, of Melbourne; Terricha Culbreth, 44, of Palm Bay; and a 9-year-old child of Palm Bay.
Melbourne Fire Department personnel worked to secure the SUV before removing the occupants. Of the three surviving passengers, one was airlifted by Health First Trauma Center and First Flight Air Medical Transport. Law enforcement officials have yet to disclose if drugs or alcohol were involved and are investigating the crash as a Traffic Homicide Investigation.
According to a report from ABC‘s Orlando Affiliate WFTV, the three passengers who survived the crash are stable. If you have any information regarding this investigation, please call Traffic Homicide Investigator Officer Costello at 321-608-6731.
Since Brightline started servicing the South Florida region in 2017, it has been involved in dozens of fatal accidents, including pedestrian suicides and accidents involving automobiles. The Orlando extension was added and opened in Sept. of 2023. A 36-year-old woman was struck and killed by a Brightline train in Melbourne on Christmas Eve.
