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SOUTH SALT LAKE — John Pulley said he knew right away that something was wrong with the TRAX train.
"I was thinking, 'There was no way he's going to make this turn,'" Pulley said from a hospital bed Monday. "People were screaming at the train driver to slow down right before it happened."
Moments later, the TRAX train that Pulley and 13 other passengers were on went off the tracks. The crash occurred about 3:35 p.m. Sunday on a curve near 210 W. 2185 South and tossed passengers about inside.
Three patients were transported by ambulance to local hospitals: two men to Jordan Valley Medical Center-West Valley, and a woman to Intermountain Medical Center, according to Salt Lake fire officials.
The Utah Transit Authority released a statement Sunday night saying none of the three were seriously injured.
Pulley, 51, however, said he is now recovering from a broken sternum, two cracked ribs, a broken clavicle and has three staples in his head to close a wound.
When the train derailed, Pulley said his chest was thrown into a metal bar and his head smashed against a window.
A Salt Lake fire spokesman said Monday that sometimes the extent of internal injuries can't be determined until a patient gets to a hospital.
With the disabled train finally removed from the tracks by midmorning Monday, investigators have turned their attention to what caused the accident. Several questions are being raised by passengers about the person who was driving the TRAX train.
UTA spokesman Remi Barron said the TRAX operator has been placed on administrative leave, but he did not release his name.
The Green Line train had just left the Central Pointe Station Sunday and was traveling south when it derailed on a curve at a point where the Blue Line and Red Line trains can continue south, and Green Line trains switch to tracks heading to West Valley City.
Pulley believes the TRAX operator appeared to be irritated about something before he left the Central Pointe Station.
"I noticed when he came out of his little cubby hole that he looked pissed off, and he looked angry and looked like he was slamming the door and slamming his seat back and what not," he said.
When the train left the station, passengers said they immediately knew something was wrong.
"It took off like a bat out of hell. And it was like we were doing 50 before we knew it," said passenger Michael Jereb.
Moments later, the train derailed.
As he was lying on the TRAX floor waiting for medical attention, Pulley claims he overheard the TRAX operator say he thought he was on the line going south.
"The driver says, 'I was going too fast. I thought I was on the Red Line,'" Pulley said.
Barron said Monday that the cause of the derailment was still under investigation. He said the train's data recorder — which records information such as the speed of the train — will be examined, as well as surveillance video from several angles, including inside the train.
Barron said Pulley was believed to be the only victim still in the hospital.
Contributing: Peter Samore, Ladd Egan
