Personal Trainer Achilles Williams Struck, Killed by Train While Filming Fitness Video

People Magazine ^ | 3/19/2015 | Melody Chiu

[Rodamala]

Two months after fitness expert and reality TV star Greg Plitt was killed by a Metrolink train in California, another personal trainer was struck and killed Tuesday in Georgia by a freight train.

Achilles Williams, 30, a popular Atlanta-area personal trainer, was skipping rope near the train tracks filming a YouTube workout video when he was sideswiped by a speeding freight train, a spokesperson at the Fulton County coroner's office confirms to PEOPLE.

[cuban leaf]

[Beagle8U]

” Role Model!!!” No Roll model.

[Parley Baer]

“Don’t play on the railroad tracks.
Come inside out of the thunderstorm.
Don’t stick your tongue on a metal pole when its below freezing.”

Achilles sez: Don’t tell me what to do!!!”

Yep, no White man is going to tell him what to do.

[jughandle]

Maybe he’ll be a little more careful next time.

Oh.

[Beagle8U]

“Worse yet, why didn’t the person doing the filming yell out “Yo Achilles, you better get your butt out of the way NOW!”.”

Must be he is/was just like this star performer.

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=rapper+gets+hit+by+ice+cream+truck&FORM=VIRE6#view=detail&mid=2AE558691438DAD4482D2AE558691438DAD4482D

[Maine Mariner]

Well I followed 2 out of the 3 pieces of advice.

[gr8eman]

Raciss!

[353FMG]

Don’t bring your body to a train fight.

[Dalberg-Acton]

“how could you not hear the train”

I worked for the BN railroad and one day at Tascosa I discovered that an empty unit coal train coasting down a hill at 60 mph on welded rail can be very quite. I wasn’t very close to the track, but was looking the other way and didn’t hear it until it zoomed right by me.

[niteowl77]

It depends on so many factors- the weather, the terrain, the condition of the track, the locomotive(s), etc, but a train can be a lot quieter than people expect, and if there was a lot of other ambient noise in the location, or he had earbuds in, he may have heard nothing until it was too late.

Back in my rail louse days, I was surprised by more than one train or cut of cars that I never heard coming. By keeping off the tracks, I wasn't hurt or killed; had I been somewhere on the ties, that would not have been the case. "Everything on a railroad can kill you" isn't far off the mark.

Mr. niteowl77

[angry elephant]

Achilles sez: Don’t tell me what to do!!!”

The engineer was probably white and hit him because he was black Made the train swerve into his training area.

[Rodamala]

OK, you want to film a video by the railroad tracks. That’s cool.

Not jumping down your throat here, but, no, it's not cool. It's trespassing and very dangerous. Title 49 CFR Part 214 - Roadway Worker Protection mandates a safety program that all railroad must have. These railroad rules are very clear that even employees, unless performing their assigned duties and have some form of protection against train movements, that they are NOT to occupy the track.

Be careful out there.

[yldstrk]

Why should anyone take advice from people too stupid to get out of the way of a moving train?

[TangoLimaSierra]

He probably had earbuds plugged in.

The engineer blew his horns but he didn't move. I suspect he knew the train was coming but severely misjudged how wide it was.
Maybe he figured it would look cool on video for him to keep working out and ignore the train.

[ExCTCitizen]

Trespassing on railroad property is wrong...and deadly... a few years ago, I was filming my friend's railroad (he took over an old branch line that was abandoned), so he was switching 7 cars in the old frieghtyard. I was asked by an Obama's sister if I can stop the train. I looked at her and said that she and her 5 kids are trespassing and the crossing is half mile in either direction, but she can't cross here. She got mad and told me to stop the train, since she been crossing there for years. I told her the railroad was built in 1875, so the railroad has the right.

In Maine, a parent sued the railroad because a train ran over her son who was ATVing on the tracks and got hit by the train. A judge threw out the lawsuit...

[Rodamala]

That shoot on the bridge was for Midnight Rider: The Gregg Allman Story. The production company did not have permission to foul the track, and through a series of willful safety violations, a young woman named Sarah Jones lost her life.

The director was recently sentenced to prison for felony involuntary manslaughter and criminal trespass.

[csvset]

Minor issue in light of his demise, but wouldn’t he have been trespassing?

[Billthedrill]

Stand by for the government to order up a bunch of “Please do not stick body parts in the path of an oncoming train” signs. Because otherwise, how would you ever know not to?

[Rodamala]

Back in 2001 I had a summer engineering internship with Amtrak. I spend a good deal of time out on the North East Corridor with the surveyors. You can’t hear these electrics, AT ALL, and they are bearing down on you at 120 MPH. These days the Acelas are clocking a buck fiddy on the long tangents. High pucker factor... because it’s not like you can just hop off the track and be in the clear if you are on one of the middle tracks.

[ArtDodger]

A boy stood on the railroad tracks and didn’t hear the bell
I’d like to tell you the rest of the story but its too sad to tell
Stay away from the railroad tracks, it isn’t the place to play
For trains go fast when they go past and you might be in the way!