(The following story by Andrea Williams appeared at WTOK.com on August 11, 2010. Darrell Amerson was a member of BLET Division 230 in Meridian, Miss.)
LAUDERDALE COUNTY, Miss. — 41-year-old Darrell Amerson was severely injured at his job for Norfolk Southern July 1. He later died during surgery.
Amerson had worked for the company almost four and a half years. Although family members say Norfolk Southern has been helpful in the wake of the accident, a cause for the mishap has yet to be determined.
“My husband was all about family,” said Angela Amerson of Marion.
Her husband was a father of five, grandfather of three and Navy veteran. Angela says the night he died haunts her.
“It’s something when your husband calls you at work and says he’s on his way to work, and 3 1/2 to four hours later, you get a call that there’s been an accident,” she said.
The Amersons were married eleven years.
“I think I owe that much to him, as well as our family, to know exactly what happened,” Amerson said.
That’s why, although Norfolk Southern officials have been cooperative up to this point, the Amerson family says it found it necessary to also have an independent investigation done.
“As a son I really would like to know what really happened. It’s a lot of different stories of different people saying what they think might have happened,” said Darrell Amerson’s son, Randarrus Tillman.
“I would rather know what happened for sure,” said Amerson’s daughter, Anitra Brown. “Not hearsay or speculations, especially for my mother.”
Newscenter 11 spoke with the family’s attorney by phone. He said that Norfolk Southern has been very cooperative and that he has been able to examine equipment, train tracks and listen to radio voice communications for the night of the accident.
Meanwhile, with both the family’s and company’s investigations ongoing, we are told that the autopsy results could be ready within the next month.