(Panhandle, Texas – December 19, 2013)
A grain elevator customer died at about 12:30 P.M. Thursday afternoon when he was struck by an eastbound BNSF freight train at the elevator near the intersection of FM 2161 and U.S. Highway 60 west of Panhandle, TX.
Joe Dylan Spears, 21, of Panhandle, TX was standing near the double-track BNSF main line that passes by the elevator when the train, one of a daily average of 72 trains which travel on those tracks at top allowable timetable speeds of 70 mph, hit him, killing him instantly. No fence divides elevator property from railroad right-of-way, making for an extremely dangerous situation.
Carson County Justice of the Peace pronounced the victim dead and Carson County Sheriff Loren Brand was investigating the tragedy along with BNSF Police.
