(The following story by E, Richard Walton appeared on the Greenville News website on August 17.)
GREENVILLE, S.C. — A 33-year-old man made a fatal mistake when he was struck by a Norfolk-Southern train at Pleasantburg Drive and Worley Road on Friday night, a Greenville County deputy coroner said Saturday.
Scott Vaughn Goranson was walking northeast on one of two sets of tracks, said Tony Segars, a Greenville County deputy coroner. The train operator, traveling in the same direction on the same set of tracks, blew his horn when he saw Goranson, Segars said.
Goranson saw that the train was on the same tracks he was and moved over to the other set of tracks, Segars said. The train then hit a predetermined switch gear and changed to the tracks on which Goranson was walking, he said.
The engineer again blew his horn, Segars said.
“Mr. Goranson probably hears the horn but thinks it just normal activity because he last sees the train on what he probably determined in his mind to be Track A, and now he’s on Track B not knowing that the train switched tracks,” Segars said.
And he never turned around to make sure, Segars said.
“I don’t have anything scientific to tell me that’s what he was thinking, but that’s exactly what it looks like,” Segars said. “I don’t think he attempted to be killed or anything like that. It was just an accident.”
Goranson’s family is from out of state, Segars said. He had a previous address in Greer.
An autopsy showed that Goranson died of blunt force trauma at 8:13 p.m. Segars said he didn’t think that alcohol or drugs were an issue.
Lt. Tim Ridgeway, a spokesman for the Greenville County sheriff’s office, said no one should walk along railroad tracks.
“It’s against the law to walk on the tracks,” he said, “and this is why.”