RFP Staff
♦ An unidentified male bicyclist was struck and killed by a high-speed Amtrak “Carolinian” passenger train when he attempted to outrace the train to a rail crossing on East 11th Street near Lexington Avenue in Salisbury. The bicyclist was said to have stood up on his peddles and pumped them hard in his race to the crossing before the Southbound “Carolinian”, headed to Charlotte from New York, slammed into him and hurled the rider several yards away. The man lay crumpled and bloodied on the side of the tracks.
Persons in the area recall the Carolinian sounding its horn in the darkness prior to the accident at approximately 7:30 p.m. A Norfolk Southern freight train idled on a nearby track waiting for the Carolinian to travel through. Two Salisbury Fire Department companies arrived quickly on the scene along with a crew from the Rowan EMS.
The bicyclist was pronounced dead at the scene after emergency personnel attempted to apply CPR.
**This article will be updated as more information arrives.”
