(The following story by Joel Fulton and Juan Perez Jr. appeared on the Omaha World-Herald website on May 27, 2009.)
OMAHA, Neb. — All didn’t make it aboard when two people tried to jump on a moving coal train Thursday near downtown Omaha.
A man slipped and injured his ankle while trying to hop onto the Union Pacific coal train, a railroad spokesman said.
A woman who was with the man made it onto the train and couldn’t be found, a police spokesman said.
Mark Davis, Union Pacific spokesman, said the train was on its way to Wyoming from Council Bluffs.
Omaha police were called at 11:57 a.m. to the area of railroad tracks near Sixth and Pacific Streets
The man who fell was cited on suspicion of trespassing, according to police spokesman Officer Jacob Bettin. The man was taken to Creighton University Medical Center with injuries that police said were not considered life threatening.
Meanwhile, the train came to a stop about 10 miles away near 96th and F Streets and police began a long search for the woman. She wasn’t found.
She could have jumped off somewhere along the way, Bettin said.
Davis said the man was lucky his injuries weren’t worse and that the woman apparently wasn’t injured. Railroad property can be very dangerous, he said.
“Anytime someone tries to jump on a train is one time too many,” Davis said.