Man dies as train hits truck on tracks
Authorities have not determined if the crash was a suicide.
By ALEXANDRA ZAYAS and CATHERINE E. SHOICHET, Times Staff Writers
Published October 29, 2007
BRANDON - Driving to a friend's house Sunday afternoon, Patrick Register and Jerry Taylor saw something along the railroad tracks that made them slow down.
A white Chevy pickup had stopped on the shoulder of E Broadway Avenue. A man stood in its bed, clad in a baseball cap, dark shirt and jeans, and stared down the tracks.
"Jerry," Register said. "Something's wrong."
But the men drove on. They didn't know they would be among the last to see the stranger alive.
A train hit the truck at about 1:50 p.m., where the tracks meet the small road that leads into the Brandon Model Flyers Club, a remote-controlled airplane field on E Broadway Avenue between U.S. 301 and Falkenburg Road.
The Amtrak passenger train was going about 50 mph at impact. It dragged the truck for a quarter of a mile before coming to a stop. The man and a dog died at the scene. None of the 160 passengers and crew were hurt.
The quiet, isolated stretch of truck yards, warehouses and office parks soon swarmed with Hillsborough County firetrucks and sheriff's deputy cruisers.
About an hour later, Register and Taylor found firetrucks blocking the road as they drove back.
They threw their pickup into park, ran toward the opening in the brush and saw the same white pickup they'd seen earlier, overturned and crunched under the train.
Hillsborough Sheriff's Cpl. Stu Gray later briefed reporters, but he said he was unaware of the two men's account.
Gray said it was unclear whether the driver of the truck was heading into the flying club or out, or whether he had been parked on the tracks.
"It's kind of hard to determine suicide or not," Gray said. "In most of these cases, the only witnesses are the drivers."
The train was headed northbound from Miami to New York when it hit the truck at a private crossing, Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said
"Every indication is that the train was doing what it was supposed to be doing when it was supposed to be doing it," Magliari said, "and the truck driver did not heed the warnings."
Some of the passengers traveling to Tampa on the nine-car "92" train heard a loud bang on impact. Others said they only noticed something wrong once the train stopped.
"I felt the brakes hit twice. Then we hit something," said Nancy Doty, 68, of Hudson. "It wasn't real hard."
A deputy told passengers a truck had stopped on the tracks, she said.
"It felt like it was climbing over something, and then it came to a halt real quick," said Francisco Gomez, 43, of Miami.
For hours, they waited. Smoke billowed around the train, he said. Conductors passed out water and snacks. Rumors swirled through the cars as passengers discussed what happened and deputies investigated the scene.
Meanwhile, more than 50 people waited at Union Station in Tampa for the 92 train and the 91 train - a southbound train stuck behind the 92 - to arrive.
About 5:30 p.m., two buses dropped off local passengers from the 91 train in Tampa.
Lois Hurley, 47, said she left Boston on Saturday night to visit her father, who is entering hospice care.
"We're about five hours late. What a nightmare," she said before boarding a bus bound for St. Petersburg. "I've been on the phone all day hoping he doesn't die before we get there."
Several passengers said they wish Amtrak officials had given them more detailed updates.
"I haven't eaten for 41/2 hours. There's nobody in charge. This is terrible," said William Freese, 67, of Brooklyn.
The 92 train arrived in Tampa around 7 p.m., about 41/2hours later than scheduled. An Amtrak spokesman said the trains had to wait for local officials to complete their investigation at the scene.
Officials had not released the identity of the truck's driver Sunday night.
Hours after the collision, Register said the driver's image was seared in his mind.
He lingered at the scene, making cell phone calls and giving statements to deputies.
"Man," he said, "I wish I would have stopped to talk to him."
Alexandra Zayas can be reached at azayas@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3354. Catherine E. Shoichet can be reached at cshoichet@sptimes.com or (813) 661-2454.