Hurricane Police Chief Mike Mullins says the death of a man on the railroad near Hurricane High School over the weekend is almost an identical scenario to what happened in nearly the exact location back in January.
“He had his earphones in and walking. Didn’t even turn around when the train was approaching,” said Mullins. “We had a statement from the engineer who said he just kept walking when he sounded the horn.”
Mullins says Michael Eads, 20, was killed by the impact. Hurricane High School student Jacob Ball was killed while walking about 100-yards away in January while going home from school. Ball also had earbuds in place and couldn’t hear the approaching train.
The tracks in the area are very near Route 34. Mullins says the section appears to be a popular walking path between town and a nearby housing development. However, it’s illegal to walk on the railroad and Mullins says two fatal accidents in a year may cause change department policy which until now had been verbal warnings to those on the tracks.
“It’s something we try to stop and tell people to get off the tracks,” he said. “I guess the next step is we’re going to have to write citations when we catch them on there.”