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April 15, 2009
Deaf man escapes train collision
A deaf man was nearly hit by a train when his scooter stalled while crossing railroad tracks in Lincolnville — but he looked up, saw the train and jumped off the scooter “a split second” before the train struck it, authorities said.
The deaf-mute man is okay, Lincolnville Fire Chief Charles Gantt said. The incident occurred Monday shortly after 5 p.m. near the intersection of Owens Drive and Lincoln Avenue at a railroad crossing with no railroad crossing guard.
Lincolnville Firefighter Clark Presley and the man communicated by writing on a notepad. “We had to figure out a way to communicate with him real quick,” Gantt said, adding that the man is about 50 years old.
The Lincolnville Fire Department was the first on the scene and Charleston County EMS arrived shortly after, giving the man medical attention “to make sure he was all right,” Gantt said.
“The medics cleared him,” Lincolnville Firefighter Tommie Williams said. Gant and Williams said the man was “very lucky.”
“He was telling us he was fine,” Gantt said, adding that he was calm.
The train knocked the moped off the track into a nearby ditch, Gantt said. Firefighters pulled the moped out of the ditch so the water wouldn’t become hazardous from a possible fuel leak, according to Gantt.
“We saw the train stop in front of the fire station,” Gantt said. Sometimes trains stop to check their brakes nearby, but when the Lincolnville Fire Department received a dispatch call at 5:07 p.m. they knew something had happened, Gantt said.
A Charleston County Sheriff’s Office Deputy was on the scene and later Norfolk Southern representatives arrived. The tracks were inspected by a high rail vehicle — a pickup truck that can drive on train tracks — to make sure there was no damage, a Norfolk Southern assistant track supervisor said.
The train came to a stop about half a mile away and departed moments after the track inspection.
One of Lincolnville’s firefighters took the man, who has no immediate family in the area, to his home off Central Avenue, Gantt said.
Calls to the Charleston County Sheriff’s Office to obtain the man’s name were not immediately returned.
http://www.journalscene.com/news/Deaf-man-escapes-train-collision
Posted by 4HL on April 15, 2009 7:54 AM
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