Report: Husband Shocked of Wife's Driving Through LIRR Gates

The husband of a Commack resident who was killed when her car collided with a Long Island Rail Road train, said in an interview with Newsday that it is hard to imagine that his wife drove through the lowered crossing gates, which resulted in the fiery crash that killed her and her father.

"They told me something that is very difficult to believe," Luis Maldonado, 57, told the newspaper of the alleged actions of his wife, Blanca, 45.

He went on to describe his wife as a cautious and alert driver, with 17 years of experience on the road.

According to the report, Maldonado said that he had spoken with his wife minutes before the crash, while she was parked outside of a Brentwood pharmacy as she waited for her father, Jose Adolfo Reyes, 73, who was having his prescription refilled.

He told Newsday that his wife was on her way to an appointment with her father to see an adviser about switching his medical coverage following his recent retirement.

Blanca was a mother of three. Both she and her father died upon impact and were severely burned beyond recognition, officials said.

No one on the train, which was carrying three Metropolitan Transportation Authority employees, but no passengers, was harmed in the crash.

The crash, which occurred just after 10 a.m. on Tuesday, led to the temporary suspension of all service on the Ronkonkoma branch between Ronkonkoma and Farmingdale. Service returned to a regular schedule Wednesday.