Man, asleep on tracks, hit by train

Copyright © 2009
Gallup Independent
By Phil Stake
Staff writer

IYANBITO — McKinley County logged its first train-related fatality of 2009 Friday. Jerry Antonio, 41, of Fort Wingate, was pronounced dead at the scene after he was run over by a freight train. No foul play is suspected, according to McKinley County Sheriff’s investigators.

The conductor and engineer told police they saw a man lying parallel to the tracks about 9:20 p.m., but that they didn’t have time to stop the 62-car freight train, which was headed east at nearly 60 mph, according to McKinley County Sheriff’s Deputy DJ Murphy’s incident report. The conductor told police it looked as though Antonio was using one of the rails as a pillow.

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