ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — Police have released 911 calls from the trolley crash in St. Augustine in mid-July. Action News Jax first told you when a trolley overturned in the city’s Historic District, leaving 12 people hospitalized.
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According to police, the crash happened in the area of Charlotte and St. Francis streets on July 17. Police say the driver, identified in a police report as Gregory Robinson, was making a left turn into a parking lot when the third and last trolley car tipped over on its right side.
“Help! My dad!” a frantic caller said in one of the 911 calls police released. “My dad is in… he’s bleeding… I don’t know… he’s bleeding.”
St. Augustine first responders began taking multiple calls from shaken passengers and bystanders.
“We’re on the Old Town Trolley Tour,” said another caller. “It just tipped over, the whole back... The whole trolley tipped over; people are very injured.”
In the police report, several passengers told detectives they recalled the driver saying a variation of “hold onto your hats, hold onto your children” before he “gunned it” and “started going really fast.”
The police report says passengers were ejected and pinned underneath the trolley.
“People aren’t breathing, there’s people not moving,” another panicked passenger said, then screamed, “Oh my God! Oh no, oh no!”
According to the investigation, Robinson continued to drive forward, dragging the trolley car and its trapped passengers. The report says uninjured passengers lifted the trolley car off of those who were trapped.
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“We were able to upright the trolley, but there’s people very injured,” a caller told a 911 operator when asked if anyone was trapped underneath the trolley. “One guy is definitely unconscious… laying on the ground.”
Action News Jax reached out to Old Town Trolley Tours, the company that runs the trolley tours. We will update this story when we hear back from the company.
Police say Robinson was charged with reckless driving. Action News Jax reached out to Robinson; we’re waiting for a response.
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