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(The Associated Press circulated the following article on January 18.)

STEUBENVILLE, Ohio — A longtime employee of Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corp. died Monday at the company’s North Plant after being hit by a train in the rail yard.

Kenneth Cesaro of Wintersville was a conductor on the trains that carried material among the steel plants. He had been with the company for 33 years.

Company spokesman James Kosowski said the accident happened shortly after noon while Cesaro, 54, was pulling a lever beside a track to change an oncoming train’s direction. The company and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration are investigating the incident.

Cesaro was the part-time chief of police for the village of Hopedale for at least seven years, worked part-time as a sergeant with the Cross Creek Township Police Department for six years and was an auxiliary member of the Wintersville Police Department from 1974 until he retired in 1998, according to officials.

A conductor was killed at the North Plant in 1992 when a railroad car being moved by remote control hit him. Another man died in 1989 when he was crushed between an engine and a car, according to OSHA reports.