an races train and looses 
2003 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance
A man attempting to outrun a train Monday evening instead lost his life.
Paul W. Kochensparger, 45, died about 8 p.m. when he was struck by an eastbound train as he ran across the Jefferson Street crossing.
Kochensparger had been to Marsh and was walking home to 615 N. LaFontaine St. with a sack full of groceries. As he was walking north on Jefferson Street, he greeted a friend, Charles Hess. Hess had just parked his pickup truck on Jefferson Street, south of the tracks, and was preparing to enter a nearby business.
“He just said he was going to beat the train,” Hess said. “I threw my hands up, and he kept running. There was nothing I could do.
“I thought he’d stop when he got to the corner of the building and saw how close the train was, but he kept on running.”
Kochensparger crossed the tracks at the pedestrian crossing on the west side of Jefferson Street, and Hess said Kochensparger nearly made it.
“The rest of him was across the track but just one leg,” Hess said.
The front of the train apparently caught Kochensparger’s leg.
The blow spun Kochensparger around into the train, County Coroner David Brandt said. Kochensparger died of massive head and chest injuries. The impact propelled his body nearly 108 feet to the east.
The train — 53 cars plus an engine — was unable to get stopped immediately. When it stopped, the end of the train was between Warren and Byron streets, more than 648 feet from the point of impact. Brandt was unsure where the front of the train was, but said the Condit Street crossing was open.
All lights and crossing gates were operational at the time of the accident, Brandt said. The train was not traveling above the 60 mph speed limit, he said, but was “at the higher end of that spectrum.”
Brandt does not expect any charges to be filed against the train’s engineer.
Huntington city and county police, as well as Norfolk-Southern Railroad police, the Disaster Action Team, and Huntington County Emergency Management, were at the scene along with representatives of the coroner’s office.
A crowd gathered quickly on both sides of the tracks as police strung yellow tape around the scene. As word of the victim’s identity spread among the onlookers, several expressed shock — they knew him as an employee of Johnny’s restaurant who frequently walked and rode his bicycle through the downtown area.
“I was down there this morning having coffee with him,” Anthony Rittenhouse said as he watched police measure the accident scene. “He was a nice guy, a real nice guy. He was a real happy-go-lucky guy.”
Submitted on 08/14/2002
Submitted by:
Wayne Doenges
Reference:
Huntington Press-Herald 8/13/0
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