Train strikes and kills 17-year-old walking on tracks after car broke down, NC cops say
A teenager checking out a traveling freight train was killed by another passing train in North Carolina, police said.
Police were called to an intersection in Thomasville at about 8 a.m. about a “fatal train accident involving Amtrak and a pedestrian,” according to a Jan. 23 Thomasville Police Department news release. The dead pedestrian turned out to be a 17-year-old boy, according to an update later that day.
The teenager, identified as Hunter Gardner, was in a car when it broke down on a street that runs parallel to the railroad tracks, police said. At some point, he got out of his vehicle and began to walk on the tracks, according to police.
While walking, Gardner went to watch a freight train rush by on a southbound track, authorities said.
Then, an Amtrak train going north hit him from behind, according to the department. Gardner most likely did not hear or see the train before he was struck, according to statements police said they received.
The teenager was pronounced dead at the scene by first responders, according to the department.
There were 85 passengers and staff members on the train at the time of the crash, Amtrak spokesperson Kimberly Woods told McClatchy News in a statement. No one on the train was injured, police said.
The train — traveling at about 77 miles per hour — was heading to New York from Charlotte, police said. Amtrak also confirmed the route.
Amtrak is working with police through the investigation, the company said in its statement.
“These incidents can affect everyone involved—those who are injured or die and their families, our train crews, and our passengers,” Amtrak said.
Thomasville is about 25 miles southwest of Greensboro.
