(The following appeared on the Trentonian website on May 12, 2009.)
MIDDLETOWN TWP., Pa. — A tractor-trailer driven by a 56-year-old New Jersey man yesterday struck and killed a railroad worker who was rewiring a flashing railroad crossing light at the tracks on Big Oak Road, police said.
The trucker was making a sharp turn onto the tracks from Big Oak and saw the worker but didn’t know he hit him, and didn’t stop, reported Trentonian freelance photographer Alex Lloyd Gross.
The victim, 53, a CSX worker, was pronounced dead on arrival at 4:47 p.m., according to the Breaking News Network.
Middletown and Lower Makefield cops tracked the driver and impounded the vehicle.
The death occurred on the border between the two townships; Middletown is handling the paperwork.
The names of the victim and the truck driver were not immediately released.
No charges had been filed as of early last night.
The cause of the crash is under investigation, but after alcohol and drug testing was conducted on the driver, police said they don’t expect him to test positive. Police are urging witnesses to call Middletown’s investigator, Officer Mark McLeod, at (215) 750-3845 ext. 460.
Traffic in the area was snarled during yesterday’s afternoon rush, with Big Oak closed at Oxford Valley Road, and the R3 SEPTA line delayed to and from West Trenton.
A similar incident occurred at the same crossing last Monday when a tractor-trailer hit the crossing signals with resulting heavy damage, according to published reports. No one was hurt in that one.