Batavia man struck, killed by freight train investigated as accident
A final determination is still to be made but authorities investigating the death of a 24-year old Batavia man who was struck and killed by a freight train Friday afternoon in Geneva are considering it an accident.
"Based on the preliminary (information) he never turned around and saw that second train," Geneva police Commander Brian Maduzia said Saturday morning. "We're investigating it as a very tragic accident."
The man's identity was not being released Saturday pending notification of relatives, Maduzia said. The name and other information will be released Monday following an autopsy scheduled for 10:30 a.m., he added.
According to Geneva police, the man was struck while walking on the Union Pacific tracks that run beneath Randall Road. He had just emerged on the west side walking on the wooden railroad ties on the outside of the southern set of tracks while an eastbound freight train was passing on the northern tracks, police said.
A second train was traveling west on the southernmost tracks, according to Maduzia. Upon observing the person on the tracks, train personnel continuously sounded the air horn and immediately applied the emergency stop brakes, he added. Witnesses told police the man's attention was focused on the eastbound train and he did not turn around to look at the westbound train. He was struck just west of the Randall Road bridge.
Police and fire personnel dispatched about 3:51 p.m. found the man unresponsive and not breathing. Emergency medical services were rendered but the man could not be revived, police said.
The stopped train caused Western Avenue, which is just under a mile east of Randall Road, to be closed for more than five hours during the investigation.
Maduzia said investigators are working to determine why the man was there at the time, where he might have been going or coming from and other details.
"All the early indications are it was just an accident. Everybody is trying to find out the background," he said.