No official word concerning details of Mount Olive train death
By Staff Reports
Published in News on November 21, 2011 1:46 PM
MOUNT OLIVE -- Mount Olive police still would not confirm this morning the identity of a man struck and killed on Center Street on Friday afternoon by a train.
Police Chief Brian Rhodes said early today that he is awaiting a report from the state Medical Examiner's Office.
He would add only that the investigation is continuing.
A man, identified by several sources as Marquis Ezzell, 27, stepped into the path of a southbound CSX railroad engine pulling dozens of freight cars south through the town about 1:30 p.m.
Railroad officials said the train conductor sounded his horn repeatedly, but the victim, who allegedly was wearing headphones, either ignored the warning or did not hear the blasts.
The accident occurred along the 600 block of Center Street. The railroad tracks run north-south through the town. Most of the freight carried by the railroad is agriculture-related and CSX officials said Friday that the train, which was pulling more than 60 cars, was loaded with thousands of tons of corn.
The train was traveling at about 40 miles per hour at the time of the accident, investigators said. That is the train speed limit inside the town limits.