Associated Press

Published Thursday, February 02, 2006

WATKINS, Minn. (AP) - A Watkins man was killed by a train early Wednesday as he was taking pictures with a new camera and failed to heed his wife's warnings fast enough, authorities said.

It was snowing when Guy William Thompson, 33, walked out of his house near the tracks to snap a few pictures.

"He had made a comment to his wife that it was really cool seeing the snow on the trees, and he wanted to photograph that," Meeker County Chief Deputy Jeff Norlin said.

Thompson was shooting from the tracks about 1:15 a.m. when he was struck by a passing train. The accident happened as Thompson's wife, Jennifer, hollered to him to get out of the way, Norlin said.

"He was on his knees at one point, and she hollered out to him that the train was getting a little too close," Norlin said. "He stood up and that was when he was struck."

Police Chief Jason Elmore said the Canadian Pacific Railway freight train was traveling from Glenwood to Chicago. He said the train's engineer called rescue workers.

There was no evidence that drugs or alcohol were factors in the accident, Elmore said, but added that the case remained under investigation.

The accident happened a few blocks from downtown Watkins, a city of 900 residents about 65 miles west of Minneapolis.

"He just got the camera during Christmas or right before Christmas," Elmore said. "He loved the camera. And he loved taking pictures out of it."

Submitted on 02/02/2006

Submitted by: Chad Dubuque
Reference: AP, February 2, 2006

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James said:
Definitely Keep: Darwin Award
Yep, all the stupidity I need to see. The guy gets a new toy and defies ALL common sense as well as the admonitions of his wife (not to mention the rather LOUD sound of an approaching train) so he could get JUST the right shot. He SURE loved that camera. The last thing to go through his mind when the train hit was probably that camera...Thanks, Chad! :-)

Jack said:
Neutral: Darwin Award
While we usually toss pedestrian vs train stories as being too common, occasionally we get a story like this that shows the extreme level of stupidity that we look for. Thanks, Chad..

Jorge said:
Neutral: Not Amusing

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