CLEVELAND, June 28 — BLET Division 230 (Meridian, Miss.) member Dennis Vinson was killed in a collision between his Norfolk Southern train and a gasoline tanker truck on June 25. He was 58 years old.
The train had a three-man crew. The train’s conductor, Anthony J. “Tony” Mills, 58, was also killed in the accident, and the brakeman, Charles LaBella, 58, jumped off the rear of the train and suffered minor injuries, police said. The driver of the truck, Henry Blount, also died.
The driver of the truck caused the accident by disregarding safety signals. Shortly before the crash, Blount had picked up more than 8,000 gallons of gasoline at the Chalmette Refining plant. The billowing black smoke resulting from the collision hung in the air and could be seen across the metro New Orleans area.
BLET National President Don Hahs extended deepest sympathy to the Vinson family on behalf of the 50,000 members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen. He ordered the flag at National Division headquarters in Cleveland, Ohio, to be flown at half-mast in honor of our Brother who lost his life in the line of duty.
Brother Vinson joined the BLET on June 1, 1990. He is the fifth member of the BLET to lose his life in an on-the-job accident in 2004. On May 19, BLET Division 172 (Fort Worth, Texas) member E.M. “Mike” Rogers, 49, was killed in a head-on train collision near Gunter, Texas. On May 18, BLET Division 106 (Muncie, Ind.) member Jeff C. York, 35, was killed in a Norfolk Southern switching accident in Elwood, Ind. On February 21, Anthony C. Rodella, 57, and Jeffrey S. Bohler, 32, were killed in a collision of two Union Pacific trains in Carrizozo, N.M. Both Brothers belonged to Division 192 in El Paso, Texas.
Services for Brother Vinson will be held on June 29, from 1-3 p.m., at Fielding Funeral Home, 2260 West 21st Ave., Covington, La. 70433.
(The New Orleans Times-Picayune contributed to this report.)