Danger Train: Collision #30
It's taken out cars.
It's taken out pedestrians.
Now the Danger Train has taken out a wheelchair:
We're world class!A MetroRail train struck a Fifth Ward resident in a motorized wheelchair today, causing minor injuries that sent him to Memorial Hermann Hospital.
The northbound train was leaving the McGowen Station at about 2:30 p.m. when the wheelchair rolled out in front of it, said Metropolitan Transit Authority spokesman Ken Connaughton.
Ruben Holmes of the 4200 block of Quitman initially declined medical attention but later changed his mind and was transported to the hospital, Connaughton said.
The accident remained under investigation today. Connaughton said Holmes, who had just departed a southbound train, "must have not been looking where was going."
The crosswalk at the northern end of McGowen Station does not have a traffic signal.
The incident is the second involving a pedestrian struck by a light rail train in Houston, and the 30th train accident on the Main Street light rail line.
(Update) KTRK-13 elaborates (they call it a scooter):
Callie asks: Is it a wheelchair or a scooter?!METRO police investigated the 30th collision in the young history of light rail.
Near the medical center, Ruban Holmes had just gotten off a southbound train, and he was coming down the passenger ramp. As he set to cross the street, the light changed. The front wheel of his scooter was too near the tracks. A train going northbound hit him.
Holmes went by ambulance to the medical center. That's where he was headed initially. His son died in the hospital last week and Holmes was there to pick up his belongings.
His wife drove his scooter to the emergency room.
We do wonder at this point.
However, the adjective to use is Kafkaesque (best used as a predicate adjective).
(03-28-2004 Update) News24 talks to the man whose wheelchair was clipped. He says he never heard the Danger Train.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/27/04 18:31 | Danger Train | Technorati
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Comments
It wasn't a relative of Sheikh Yassin, was it?
Posted by Laurence Simon @ 18:44 on 03/27/04
Well, it is the only train system in the world that should carry a Surgeon General's warning.
Posted by Mystic Mullet @ 20:41 on 03/27/04
That's a scooter -- my mom has one. For all practical purposes, they're motorized wheelchairs, though. So, you know, either/or...
Still wondering how long before your METRO admits there are some serious problems with their world-class choo-choo train.
Just noticed too that you have a METRO police unit. Don't you just love the idea of yet-another-law-enforcement-agency? How long before we have "DART COPS" or "METRO Trooper" on the teevee? Somehow, Junior Brown singing "Choo-Choo Patrol" doesn't have a very good ring to it.
Posted by Scott Chaffin @ 07:46 on 03/28/04
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