HACKENSACK, N.J. — A man struck by a freight train after he fell asleep on the tracks was able to escape serious injury when a metal grate moved his body out of danger, a wire service reported.
Alfonso Asitimbay, 31, of Hackensack, was struck around 6:30 p.m. Tuesday by a New York Susquehanna and Western Railway train. The engineer saw him lying perpendicular to the tracks with his head on the rail, but was unable to avoid him.
Asitimbay was hit in the head by a metal grate on the front of the train, which is designed to sweep debris off the track. The grate moved his body out of the train’s path and one of the wheels then ran over his sneaker, slicing off a side of the shoe but leaving his foot intact.
He was taken to Hackensack University Medical Center, where he was treated for a bloody cut on his head and later released. Asitimbay was unconscious when he was found, but police said he had consumed large amounts of alcohol and may have blacked out before he was hit.
The North Bergen-based railway filed a complaint Wednesday charging Asitimbay with trespassing and interfering with transportation. He could not be reached for comment on either matter.