Railroad Employee Killed By Freight Train In Watsonville WATSONVILLE, CA -- A 49-year-old Union Pacific employee was killed Friday while working on a freight train, the Monterey County Sheriff's Office confirmed.] According to Detective Gary Wheelus, deputy coroner at the Monterey County Sheriff's Office, at approximately 09:19, deputies and paramedics were dispatched to an industrial accident at the Union Pacific railroad yard, located at 499 Salinas Road in Watsonville. Investigators determined that Santa Cruz resident Darrell Thompson died as a result of fatal injuries to his legs after falling between two moving train cars. Paramedics pronounced Thompson dead at the scene. An autopsy report confirmed that Thompson died as a result of a traumatic amputation of both legs. The Monterey County coroner's office, Pacific Union railroad police and railroad transportation administrators continue to investigate the incident. - Bay City News Service, The San Jose Mercury News
My friend from Galesburg,IL called yesterday to tell me he'd been released from the hospital after getting thrown off a car at 10 MPH after the train went into emergency. His was the 7th accident that day in the yard. He had 4 point contact and still needed stitches in his chin. That will hold him back on his training but it wasn't his fault. His conductor got chewed out for not being back there with him though.
Here in Sydney it is illegal to ride and past of a train unless it is in a specific cab etc, which means those who switch the train must walk beside it. This is a result of a similar accident last year where someone swithcing the train was riding between two intermodal cars and fell between the cars. My condolences to the family for the loss.
the story continues... Death Investigation Or Railroad Worker Continues PAJARO, CA -- Investigators are trying to determine exactly what happened to a 49-year-old Santa Cruz man who died Friday when his legs were severed by a rail car. Darrell Clyde Thompson, a native of Sunnyvale, began working for Union Pacific Railroad three years ago as a conductor, said his wife, Cheryl. "He loved it," she said Monday. "He said he never worked with a greater bunch of guys." One of Thompson's co-workers discovered him on the tracks about 09:20 at the switching station on Salinas Road near Allison Road, said Gary Wheelus, a detective with the Monterey County Sheriff's Office. Thompson's legs had been severed. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Though other workers were in the area, none saw how Thompson, who was between railcars, wound up under the moving train, Wheelus said. "We are trying to fill in the holes," the detective said. Cheryl Thompson said she has a hard time believing her husband simply fell: "He wasn't a careless person." Mark Davis, a spokesman with Union Pacific, said he could not recall the last time an employee died on the job. "It's unusual," he said. "The industry has worked hard to try and eliminate injuries or fatalities." Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Railroad Administration, Union Pacific and the Monterey County Sheriff's Office are all looking into the incident. Calls to the National Transportation Safety Board seeking comment were not returned Monday. Before going to work for the railroad, Thompson was a machinist for 25 years and lived in Washington and Oregon. He moved to Santa Cruz in 1988 and married shortly thereafter. Thompson and his wife have no children. Funeral arrangements are pending with Pacific Gardens Chapel in Santa Cruz. - Daniel Lopez, The Santa Cruz Sentinel
I remember you Darrell, you were the best player on our little league baseball team, the Eagles in the Lakewood youth little league in Sunnyvale, REST IN PEACE MY FRIEND, Rodney F
