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SFMTA via AP
Police arrested a man Thursday after he drove his SUV onto the train tracks of the San Francisco Metro, shutting it down for 2 hours.
SAN FRANCISCO – Police arrested the driver of an SUV after he headed straight down a tunnel into the San Francisco subway system, causing massive delays during Thursday morning’s commute.
Muni Metro spokesman Paul Rose told NBCBayArea. com in San Francisco the vehicle drove into a tunnel on Church Street shortly before 6 a.m. Thursday and headed east toward the Van Ness Station.
The SUV stopped when it got stuck on the tracks, police said.
Police say 40-year-old Scott Mitchell of Sebastopol, Calif., was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence, failure to obey a stop sign and driving on train tracks.
"It appears he just drove into the tunnel and his vehicle got stuck when it hit a concrete step," Officer Albie Esparza told The Associated Press. "We believe he was under the influence of alcohol. It's very fortunate that nobody was injured."
San Francisco P.D. via AP
Scott Mitchell, 40, of Sebastapol, Calif., was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence over allegations he shut down San Francisco's subway system for more than two hours after driving his SUV onto the underground tracks, police said.
No trains were involved, police said.
Witnesses said the driver was traveling about 40 mph when he drove into the the tunnel.
"The whole thing was very surreal," Randall Gerstbacher told the San Francisco Chronicle.
All underground train lines were shut down for hours while crews removed the vehicle and inspected the system, according to San Francisco newspapers.
Trains resumed service by 8:15 a.m., but service was slow moving.
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