Plymouth Neighbors Shocked To Hear Of Fatal Train Accident
PLYMOUTH (WCCO) -- Gary and Barb Lindman have lived on 53rd Avenue in Plymouth for 20 years. They were close by when a pedestrian was hit and killed by a freight train.
"I heard the train, the whistle," Gary Lindman said.
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But when he heard the train stop, he knew something was wrong.
"I thought it might have been a short passenger train," he said.
Barb Lindman was actually looking after the house across the street. The accident happened in the backyard of that house near the intersection of 53rd Avenue North and Larch Lane in Plymouth.
"And I thought, what happened? So, I came running out, and then they told me that I could not go into that yard," Barb said.
A Canadian Pacific train crew called police just before 8 a.m. and told dispatchers that they had struck a man on the tracks.
Plymouth Deputy Police Chief Dan Plekkenpol spoke with reporters at the scene.
"They said they couldn't tell age right now, whether it was a juvenile or an adult," Plekkenpol said.
At this point, authorities aren't sure if the collision is an accident or a suicide.
"We know the train was traveling eastbound, but we don't where the strike happened," Plekkenpol said.
Plekkenpol says collisions between trains and pedestrians or cars are rare occurrences in Plymouth, but he did add that one last year near the same intersection.
Canadian Pacific Railroad says its crew did everything possible to avoid hitting the man, including sounding the train horn and applying the brakes, but the railroad says the man did not respond as he was walked along the tracks.
