(The following report appeared on the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal website on August 22.)
ABERDEEN, Miss. — An autopsy may give clues into why a Starkville man drove an asphalt-filled dump truck into the side of a moving freight train Monday morning.
Elmer Patton Norwood, 51, of 164A Park Circle, Starkville, died about 9:54 a.m. about five miles west of Aberdeen where Highway 8 is crossed by Kansas City Southern Railroad tracks. He was employed by Oktibbeha County, which owned the 2007 Mack truck he was driving.
According to Monroe County Coroner Alan Gurley, Norwood’s body was sent to the Mississippi Crime Lab in Jackson for examination. West Memorial Funeral Home of Starkville is handling funeral arrangements.
Norwood was driving west and the train was going south. The accident is under investigation by the Mississippi Highway Patrol.
Another Oktibbeha County truck was behind Norwood’s but managed to avoid the train and Norwood’s truck by running into a ditch. Its driver was not injured, Gurley said.
Norwood’s truck was burned completely and several area fire departments answered the alarm.
Traffic was backed up north and south on Highway 8 while the accident scene was studied and cleared. The stretch of roadway reopened about 6 p.m.
MHP Sgt. Tommy Coleman in the Starkville office said the collision knocked four of the train’s 20 cars off the track between Hwy. 45 Alternate and Old Magnolia Road. None of the Kansas City Southern Railway crew was injured in the accident.
The derailment posed no immediate threat to area residents, said Kim Sloan, a spokeswoman for the Mississippi Department of Transportation.
“I do not know what type of freight was on board, but at this time I’ve been advised there were no hazardous materials,” Sloan said, adding that a hazardous material crew was on the scene.
Mississippi 8 was closed from the Highway 45 Alternate to Old Magnolia Road for several hours, Coleman said.
(The Aberdeen Examiner’s Alice Ortiz and The Associated Press contributed to this report.)