North Charleston police make arrest in 2021 Amtrak train collision that killed 3 people

The driver of a car hit by a train in North Charleston that killed three people last fall was arrested Wednesday and charged with reckless homicide.

North Charleston Police identified the driver as Aszeria Vanderhorst, who was driving an SUV when an Amtrak train hit it at Remount Road near Dutton Street at about 2:40 a.m. Oct. 30, 2021.

Officers reviewed the dash cam from the train, which showed the car go around the crossing arm as the train approached, a police report said.

The police report issued Wednesday did not name the victims but last year Charleston County Coroner’s Office identified them as Tiasia Newton, 22, who was from Spartanburg but had recently moved to Charleston, Danielle Branton, 29, and Reshana Lambright, 32, both of Charleston. The three passengers died at the scene of blunt force trauma, the coroner said.

The car was so heavily damaged firefighters could not initially tell the model, but they believed it was a Nissan SUV.

The train was Amtrak’s auto train, which goes from Lorton, Virginia, to Sanford, Florida. It does not stop in South Carolina.

Newton’s mother, Ziccarra Coker, said last year her daughter and the others in the vehicle had been to a local club and were on the way home. Her daughter lived with her toddler son and boyfriend not far from that railroad crossing, her mother said.