(Miamisburg, Ohio – September 25, 2011)
Miamisburg, OH Police responded to reports of a body lying near CSX Railroad tracks south of the crossing of Upper River Road and CSX tracks in this community near Dayton, OH Sunday afternoon about 2:45 P.M.
Upon arrival, they found the remains of a female, probably less than 40 years of age, with auburn hair, who had evidently been struck by one CSX freight train and reported by the crew of another. The Montgomery County Coroner’s Office did not remove the body until four hours after its initial discovery.
Basing their ongoing investigation into the tragedy upon anticipated cooperation from the railroad, Miamisburg Police Capt. Ron Hess said his department has asked CSX to produce a list of trains that have operated over that stretch of track in the past four days.
“Ninety-nine percent of the trains have video cameras in them. We want to see that video and see what it recorded.”
If future performance is based upon past behavior, Capt. Hess may be facing a long wait for any railroad to assist his investigation by supplying any video
NOTE: Railroads are frequently reluctant to release video evidence recorded by their locomotive nose cameras, citing vague “federal exemption” immunity from assisting local law enforcement jurisdictions in accidental death investigations. Yet, in the “Grade Crossing Collision Investigation Course” curriculum created and administered by individual railroads, local officers in attendance are told about the existence of the recording devices generally present on all locomotives nationwide.