Dump truck gets stuck on tracks GULFPORT, Miss. -- A Gulfport man died Tuesday after a train hit his dump truck that was stuck on the railroad tracks, according to the Sun Herald. Raymond Aycock, a construction contractor for Gulfport, had been working with a crew south of the tracks near 18th Avenue and had gone to take a load of rubbish to the dump, a crew member said. "I saw him on the tracks," said Shirley Grant, who had been working with him. "I don't know why he stopped. He was coming back to pick us up." Myron Jackson, a porter for Turan-Foley Chevrolet, saw Aycock approach the tracks and then stop. "I slowed down to help him because it looked like he couldn't get it started right," Jackson, 29, said. "He looked like he was trying to jerk something in the truck, he kept looking down and then looking up at the train. I was starting to pull over and saw in my rear view mirror - the train hit him and his tires went flying way down the road." Jackson stopped to see if he could help the driver of the crumpled 1970 International dump truck that came to rest on the north side of the tracks. He said Aycock appeared to be dead when he got to the truck. "I stopped a woman who had a cell phone and she called police," Jackson said. Harrison County Coroner Gary Hargrove said Aycock, 69, appeared to have died almost instantly of massive trauma to his entire body. An autopsy was planned for later Tuesday, but Hargrove expected the same results. Emergency personnel with the Gulfport Fire Department said Aycock was dead when they arrived on the scene. The first of the train's three engines stopped 25 railroad cars past the intersection where it hit the truck. "It can take from three-quarters of a mile to a mile to stop a train," said Gary Wollenhaupt, director of corporate communication for a regional office of CSX Transportation Inc. in Indianapolis, Ind. "The train can't stop and can't swerve around what may be in its path. If a person has a mechanical problem on a railroad track, we would much prefer the people leave the vehicle. Vehicles can be replaced and locomotives can be repaired. A person's life is much more important." Wollenhaupt said that a train hitting a car is comparable to a car running over a soda can. "If your car gets stuck, abandon your vehicle," Wollenhaupt repeated. "If it gets stuck and you have time, call (800) 232-0144 so we can notify any train that might be headed that way. At each crossing, there's a little sign that has a crossing number on it. It would help us try to stop a train if we get the crossing number." Claude McEwen, of Biloxi, heard about the wreck and went out of his way to drive to the scene. "My little sister, Tracy McEwen, got killed just like this last year," he said. "It's a bad deal." (Next Story)

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July 12, 2000
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