Car hit by train; woman injured|[5/26/06]

Published 12:00 am Friday, May 26, 2006

Two Vicksburg women were injured in separate accidents Thursday, including one whose car was hit by a freight train.

Myrtice Harris, 60, 112 Grammar St., was headed south on First North Street at 3:49 p.m. when she stopped her Chevrolet Lumina at a crossing as a Kansas City Southern train approached from the east.

&#8220She pulled up on the tracks and acted like she was going to back up, then she stopped,” Capt. Mark Culbertson said. &#8220…She didn’t move. The train was coming with bells ring ing and horns blowing.”

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The vehicle in which Harris was the only occupant was knocked several feet west of the crossing and appeared to have hit a pole before coming to a rest.

Capt. Mark Culbertson said authorities do not know why Harris stopped her car on the tracks, but Harris’ niece, Adriana Lofton, said a witness told her the red warning lights at the crossing were not working.

&#8220A neighbor saw everything,” Lofton said from Harris’ hospital room this morning. &#8220He said he didn’t hear the red lights. The red lights weren’t going off on the track.”

Lofton speculated Harris may have not seen or heard the train.

&#8220Evidently, the train was near her, but she had pulled up right before you get on the track and then she pulled halfway on to the track,” Lofton said. &#8220Just the tip of her car went on to the track. That is when it spun her around three times.”

Kansas City Southern Railway could not be reached for comment.

About 25 minutes later, Carolyn Johnson, 52, 428 Countryside Drive, was driving a white Toyota Corolla east on South Frontage Road near Indiana Avenue at 4:15 p.m. when her car was struck by a brown GMC pickup, patrolman Ken Smith of the Vicksburg Police Department said.

The driver of the pickup, Robert Coley, 62, 110 Greyline Drive, was cited for running a red light at the intersection, Smith said.

Harris was in fair condition at River Region Medical Center this morning, a spokesman said, and Johnson was treated and released.