Jon Bannis was on the train when it came to a sudden stop. He initially thought it had run over a bag."When I got off, all these people were screaming," he said. "That's devastating seeing that."
Freddy Terrazas said he was waiting to cross Main at Rusk when he saw the man get struck, hit his head on the bricks that line the track and get dragged a couple of yards underneath the 98,500-pound train. Terrazas said the train, which had just departed the Main Street Square platform on the previous block, was beeping its horn in an apparent warning to the man standing atop the shrubs.
Pervis Richmond, manager of Domino's Pizza near the crash scene, ran out to help.
"He had a pulse when I got there, and then the train's hydraulic system dropped on him," said Richmond, an Alief volunteer firefighter.
Ouch!
The train here has a fairly short route also. It just started operating last month. No one's been killed yet but one could bet it's going to happen sooner or later. They're replacing crossing gates like crazy as people keep tearing them off with their cars.
One bozo bicyclist went around a gate and beat the train only to be struck by a car as he turned onto the road.