Weiser teen recovering
By Andy Gates - Argus Observer
Friday, June 1, 2007 12:26 PM PDT
WEISER - A 15-year-old boy struck by a train Wednesday afternoon along a railroad bridge by the Weiser River is recovering from his injuries at Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise.
Hospital officials said the boy, Johnny Moore, could be released as soon as today or Saturday.
Moore, a Weiser High School freshman, was fishing from the bridge with his 16-year-old friend before the incident. A Union Pacific train traveling east approached the bridge at about 3:36 p.m. As the train approached, Moore’s friend managed to get away.
Moore, however, was unable to avoid the train according to a press release from the Washington County Sheriff’s Office and Weiser Police Department Chief Greg Moon.
The 16-year-old was tending to Moore when authorities arrived at the bridge, according to the release.
The friend actually pulled Moore into a shaded area and ran about a mile to phone for help, Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center Public Relations Specialist Mike Vogel said.
Vogel said Moore sustained injuries including cuts, two broken fingers, an arm fracture, a severe laceration, and his jawbone pierced his ear canal.
Moore is listed in fair condition. He is medicated, coherent and able to speak, Vogel said
“He is doing really well,” Vogel said. According to Vogel, doctors and nurses say Moore was very lucky he did not suffer more severe injuries.
Union Pacific Spokesman Mark Davis said the incident was tragic.
“We always remind people the safest course is to stay away from railroad tracks, especially during the summer months — with outdoor activities like fishing, people get tempted to fish off railroad right-of-ways. That’s very dangerous,” Davis said.
Peer support service representatives counseled the train’s crew after the incident, and the train departed around 6:30 p.m. en route to Iowa, Davis said.
In a bizarre twist, less than five hours after Moore was hit by a train, a different train derailed 15 miles west of Weiser.
Davis said today the cause of the 16-car derailment is still under investigation.
Five-hundred gallons of diesel fuel spilled from some of the derailed cars, and one train car discharged molasses.
Contractors and Union Pacific workers were at the site of the derailment Wednesday to repair the line, remove the cars and inspect the surrounding environment.
None of the cars’ contents seeped into the Snake River, Davis said.
One line was cleared and opened for train travel around 10 p.m. Thursday night, and the mainline should be opened tonight. Estimated costs of the derailment will not be established for around 10 days to two weeks, Davis said.
The two train mishaps do not appear to be connected.
“That train was different than the train that derailed. It was a totally separate train,” Davis said.
The small town of Weiser has been struck by at least two other train versus people incidents during the last three years.
A 16-year-old Weiser High School student, Kylene Kaye Vickers, died in October 2004 when the SUV she was driving was struck by a Union Pacific freight train.
She had been driving north on Jonathan Road, about three miles west of Weiser High School, and pulled in front of the westbound train traveling at 65 miles per hour.
The train's broadside impact sent the SUV rolling and ejected Vickers from the vehicle, Idaho State Police officers had said.
Vickers was taken by helicopter to Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center and died shortly thereafter.
A Payette woman, Candace Grant, 34, was injured in November 2006 when the SUV she was driving failed to clear railroad tracks at a crossing on River Dock Road, west of U.S. Highway 95.
Grant’s vehicle was the last in a caravan of three cars to travel across the tracks.
Grant’s vehicle, however, did not make it through the crossing.
Authorities said the train was traveling around 35 mph and plowed into the back of Grant’s SUV, sending it into a nearby ditch.
Idaho State Police Trooper Shawn Klitch said in November state police respond to an average of three train versus motor vehicle incidents annually in Washington County.
