(Bergen, New York – May 23, 2011)
In an attempt to “set the record straight”, the older brother of a 16-year-old high school student killed by an Amtrak train Friday (see May 21 Weekend Report) afternoon spoke with the news media today, saying he “didn’t like some of the things he heard people say about his brother’s accident.”
Kevin Wall, the older brother of Eric Wall, who was hit first by an Amtrak train he never saw coming, and then thrown into the CSX freight train he had sought to avoid, met with reporters at the scene of the tragedy. “There’s been a lot of speculation, but I want to make it clear exactly what happened,”
Kevin told WHEC-TV, Rochester, NY. ”That building right there blocked his view of an oncoming Amtrak train, and he didn’t see it. He saw there was a slow-moving cargo train and he wanted to beat it.” After the interview, “News 10 NBC checked with the Federal Railroad Administration’s Operation Lifesaver program. Preliminary figures for 2010 show 451 people were killed on the tracks in train-pedestrian accidents in the U.S.” However, the TV station was told “The F.R.A. classifies them as rail trespass fatalities,” and that “New York ranked seventh on the list of states with the most fatalities with 21.”
