(The following story by Ralph Zahorik appeared on the Chicago Tribune website on October 9.)
CHICAGO — A sailor who lost his lower right arm after being hit by a commuter train Sunday in Lake Bluff was hoping to join the Navy’s elite SEAL forces.
The sailor, Seaman Brandon M. Garrison, 20, of Red Bluff, Calif., recently completed recruit training at Naval Station Great Lakes. He was waiting to start SEAL Candidates School at Great Lakes, said Matt Mogle, a spokesman for the center.
Garrison earlier said he had been attacked and pushed or pulled onto the Union Pacific Railroad tracks, but he later changed his story and acknowledged it was an accident, police said Tuesday.
“He was just scared,” said Lake Bluff Deputy Police Chief David Belmonte. “There was no indication that he was suicidal or anything. . . . It’s tragic.”
Garrison said he was walking too close to the tracks, about 30 feet from the McClory Bicycle Path, and was struck by the passing southbound train, Belmonte said. Police said Garrison had no drugs or alcohol in his system at the time of the accident.
The incident occurred after 7 p.m. Sunday in a relatively remote area about half a mile south of the Great Lakes Metra depot and the entrance gate to the base’s hospital.
Garrison was walking south along the bicycle path on the east side of the tracks, Belmonte said.
After the accident, Garrison used his tie as a tourniquet and walked the half-mile back to the hospital gate where he was treated and then flown to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, Belmonte said.
Garrison’s arm was severed between his elbow and wrist.