San Martin – A man accused of alleged reckless driving resulting in manslaughter was arraigned Tuesday in Santa Clara County Superior Court.
Nathan Schrock, 20, made his first appearance in court to hear the charges against him. He is out on $50,000 bail.
He is scheduled to enter a plea during his next court appearance Nov. 3 at 9am.
Deputy District Attorney Mark Hood said Tuesday the delay before the plea hearing is due to Schrock’s defense attorney’s involvement in another case.
Schrock is accused of driving around crossing guards at the railroad tracks at San Pedro Avenue and Railroad Avenue and into the path of a southbound commuter train on Jan. 20. The train plowed into the pickup truck Schrock was driving, splitting the truck in half, sending the bed of the truck 150 feet down the rails and hurling Schrock’s girlfriend, Jackie Gamboa, 18, from the passenger side of the cab.
Gamboa was pronounced dead at the scene.
Schrock received serious injuries in the crash, including trauma to the head and a gash on his thigh. He was flown to Regional Medical Center in San Jose, where he recovered consciousness the next day. He spent some time in the hospital under treatment for his injuries.
According to police reports and witness accounts, Schrock was driving southbound on Railroad Avenue at approximately 7pm; when he reached Tennant Avenue, he saw the railroad arms down for an oncoming northbound freight train.
Apparently deciding to cross the tracks at another intersection, Schrock and the driver of a truck in front of him both made U-turns and headed north on
Railroad. Police believe he was trying to beat the train to the next intersection north of Tennant, San Pedro Avenue.
But when Schrock and the other driver arrived at San Pedro, the gates were already down, and the driver of the other truck was in front of Schrock.
Witnesses said Schrock seemed impatient and drove around the pickup, then around the railroad arms. The driver of the pickup in front of Schrock told police he yelled for Schrock to stop, seeing a second train, a commuter train, southbound on parallel tracks, coming toward the intersection.
Shrock may not have been aware there was a second set of tracks at the intersection.
