Teen dies when he doesn't hear train

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

CRAMERTON, N.C. — Police said a North Carolina teenager listening to his MP3 music player didn't hear a train approaching before he was struck and killed.

The Charlotte Observer reported that Joshua Lee Phillips, 16, was walking along the train tracks Monday afternoon on his way home from school in Cramerton.

Crew members of the Norfolk Southern train told police they sounded the horn but Phillips never reacted. Police said he died at the scene.

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Comments

This article has 8 comment(s)

Posted by megaward on November 12, 2008 at 10:31 a.m. (Suggest removal)

idiot 0 - train 1

Posted by airforcebigboy on November 12, 2008 at 11:38 a.m. (Suggest removal)

a kid gets killed and thats the stupid s#!+ that you have to post...i hope you don't have any children.

Posted by carolinagal on November 12, 2008 at 2:38 p.m. (Suggest removal)

well it is sad, but dang.... If you are going to blair the music so loud you cant hear a freaking train whistle, dont walk ON the tracks.....Kinda like, ouch, that fire burned me... duh!

Posted by thebugqueen01 on November 12, 2008 at 3:52 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I don't understand how this kid couldn't hear the train. I live by train tracks you can hear the train a mile away. Much farther away when you are standing by the tracks. just like in the movies the rails hiss and vibrate.

Posted by airforcebigboy on November 12, 2008 at 6:58 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I work for NS and the construction of track is such that now you don't hear the track vibrate anymore. Now as for the train whistle...theres no excuse for him not hearing it. We have to educate folks to stay away from the tracks. Can't blame the train because it didn't come off the track looking for someone to hit, and it's actually trespassing.

Posted by My_Master on November 13, 2008 at 12:27 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Posted by airforcebigboy on November 12, 2008 at 11:38 a.m. (Suggest removal)

"a kid gets killed and thats the stupid s#!+ that you have to post...i hope you don't have any children."

I found it rather amusing. Looks to me like the kid was an idiot. Anyone with the least bit of common sense knows not to walk on train tracks. With or without headphones on.

As far as your comment......" you don't hear the track vibrate anymore."

You can't feel the tracks and ground vibrating? I live 1/2 mile from the tracks and can feel the vibrations. Again, if this jackass was walking on the track and couldn't feel the vibration, he was an idiot. There was no excuse for this kid to not see, hear, or feel this train coming. Who's to say he didn't do it to committ suicide. Or was so too spaced out on drugs to realize what was happening around him. A lot of these articles are so vague that the readers are left to form their own conclusions. P&C is really bad about that.

Posted by palmettotree on November 13, 2008 at 5:35 a.m. (Suggest removal)

I you have a lot of bass in the music wouldn't it be vibrating on its own? Sorry to hear about this kid and his parents are no doubt very upset but he should have been taught that safety matters by the tracks. My fathered played on the tracks as a kid. I walked on tracks when I was a kid too. Not once were we hurt. If you have your headphones up that you loud, i don't think he would have heard anything anywhere not just on the tracks.

Posted by charlestonroots on November 13, 2008 at 11:30 a.m. (Suggest removal)

It seems to me if you are walking along the tracks you could feel the vibration of the ground no matter how loud the bass or the music. It is a tragedy and my heart goes out to his family.