Florida
Florida man ‘purposely walked’ onto tracks before being hit by train
A 63-year-old man who died after being struck by a freight train March 29 “purposely walked onto the tracks,” an Indian River County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson said March 30.
Sheriff’s officials at 7:20 a.m. March 29 went to the scene at the 77th Street railroad crossing just west of Old Dixie Highway.
Lt. Kevin Jaworski, sheriff’s spokesperson, said the deceased lived in the area where the incident happened, though his name was not immediately being released until additional family members were notified.
Jaworski said the man may have tried to die by suicide.
“Investigators are still looking into it, but I can tell you that he was on the railroad tracks improperly,” Jaworski said. “This wasn’t a malfunction of the gates … he purposely walked onto the tracks.”
Jaworski said investigators spoke to personnel on the Florida East Coast Railway freight train, which was southbound at the time, who provided statements.
“Most trains, if not all trains, have video, so usually the first thing we do is request the video from the train officials and usually pretty quick we’re able to determine what happened,” Jaworski said. “So between the video and then speaking with the … staff we were able to determine that pretty quickly.”
Jaworski said the train in the incident was about 2 miles long, noting trains of that type typically are 1- to 1.5-miles long.
“That’s why you saw a lot of the traffic issues,” Jaworski said. “This one was so long that you had multiple crossings, and that’s why you saw the traffic issues yesterday (March 29) morning.”
Will Greenlee is a breaking news reporter for TCPalm. Follow Will on X @OffTheBeatTweet or reach him by phone at 772-267-7926. E-mail him at will.greenlee@tcpalm.com.