JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A man died after he was struck by a train on Wednesday in Northwest Jacksonville, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.
It happened around 11 a.m. near St. Clair Street and West 16th Street.
Police said the man, who was described as being in his 60s, was trying to crawl under the train, which was stopped, with his bicycle when the train started to move.
The man was taken to a hospital, where he died, police said.
Ten minutes prior to the incident, according to JSO, the man was kicked out of the railyard of Norfolk Southern, which operates the train.
A man who works at hardware store Tremron across from the train tracks said that for the 20 years he’s worked at the business, trains will block both St. Clair Street and Old Kings Road. He said employees have a hard time getting to work because of it.
He also said the train was stopped at least 2 ½ hours prior to Wednesday’s incident.
“We had some employees that tried to help him, and it was just a bad scene all the way around,” he said. “I think it’s a shame that it’s came to this after all these complaints.”
According to News4Jax records, there have been two incidents involving trains and two deaths this year. Last year, there were six incidents involving trains and three deaths. There were seven incidents involving trains and five deaths in 2019 and 11 incidents and five deaths in 2018.