Engineer shot on NS train in Ohio (BLE Editor's Note: L.E. Jameson is a member of BLE Division 4 in Toledo, Ohio.) TOLEDO, Ohio -- One of several shots that were fired in the vicinity of a Norfolk Southern freight train on May 11 ended up penetrating the left shoulder of a locomotive engineer -- not just grazing him, as originally reported by the Toledo Blade. Lawrence Jameson, 40, said he was treated at St. Charles Mercy Hospital and that doctors decided against removing the bullet for the time being, given its location and the extent of surgery that would be required. A Toledo police report states that about a half-dozen shots were heard shortly before 10 p.m. as the train moved east between Greene and Curtis streets near the Anthony Wayne Trail and City Park Avenue. Muzzle flashes were seen on the north side of the railroad tracks. At least one of the bullets is believed to have passed through an open window before striking Mr. Jameson. Tuesday, May 14, 2002
This kind of thing is ridiculous. It seems like it's open season on human life these days. It's almost to the point where I won't care when this society implodes.
All locomotives should have a gun rack....or a safe that can be locked up when the engine is sitting idol...All crews should be trained in that as well....firing a gun.and if they are fired apon, they fire back..especially when they are moving slow enough
Glad to hear Mr Jameson is OK. I think it's perfectly acceptable for engineers to be allowed to carry firearms, not to protect the train, but themselves!! It gets crazier out there every day!! You just never know when some nut-job is going to do something! 2slim
An old Sarge whispered, "Keep your eye on the muzzle flash, and empty your magazine". If those guys got caught way out in west Texas, I hear they sometimes stumble and fall under a moving train. It is a shame, but one way of looking at it is: The Sheriff doesn't have to haul him all the way back to jail and feed him, the Judge can tend to worthwile cases, the Jury doesn't have to take time off from work, and the railroad can go on about their business. What mess there is out there is quickly cleaned up by the Oh So Thankful buzzards, crows, Coyotes and ants. (It is usually best if he dies quickly, because those big old turkey buzzards are especially fond of eye balls first, then they settle down to the business of dismemberment and sharing parts with the rest of the crowd.) Cattle rustlers have been disposed of in similar manner, and, some were simply dropped in old abandoned bottle wells, or cisterns, or covered over in creek beds. If there were two or more, they might have heavy rocks laid on their legs next to anthills so they could talk to one another. I kinda figured it would be hard to think of something to say if I had a one ton rock pinning my legs to the ground. One thing everyone likes about it, is that he doesn't do it again!
Maybe he's a "good boy" who took the wrong path. Hopefully in front of a speeding train. (ops. sorry engineers! maybe he could fall off a bridge while tagging it with his logo).
I was out in boo-fu eastern Il walking back about 40 or so cars, when all the sudden I heard shotgun blasts coming at me in the cornfields!! LOl..a big mudd'n truck full of good ol boys came skidding toward the set of cars screaming at me "Ya seen any cotes" round here?? LOLOL!!! I literally crapped my pants! I said HELL NO!! and they just took off down alongside the tracks jetting back into the field...But at that moment had something gone down, I would have been better off with a 9mm on my side, not just my flashlight and radio. Some of the switch runs I have been on go through war zones!!
i know how it is i was almost shot while working on crossing signal about midnight in a bad area of knoxville tenn. ducked into control house while the rest of the shootin was goin on until police showed up. <OKIECRIP>
When I was working as a conductor in Youngstown one day two kids fired a 22 rifle in my direction after I had hoped of the train to throw a switch. As the train was moving past the switch I heard the shots, and metal 'ping' sound as one of the bullets hit a piece of scrap in a gondola and ricocheted down hitting the ground 2 inches from my foot. I jumped back in reaction as another hit the side of the next gon. If I would have stayed in the same place I probably would have been hit. I looked in the direction of the shots and saw the two boys running down from underneith a over pass and I took off after them. They actually climbed on the slowly moving train and crossed over the couplers of two of the coupled cars. I was radioing my Engineer and he had the police on the line on his cell phone as I gave updates on the streets I was running after them. About 3 blocks from the tracks at an intersection, I caught one of them and tackled him to the ground, just as two police cars reached the intersection and caught the second one. One was 21, and the one I tackled was 17. Both were charged, both found guilty...of only discharging a firearm in city limits. 17 year old got probation, 21 year old got a small jail sentence. I my later years as an Engineer, I got into the habit of closing my window when going by hunters walking along the track.....you just never know in this out of control world. I am glad the Engineer was only hit in the arm.....a couple inches up could have been much worse.
Even in God's country I was a guest in the cab of an overnight freight run just a few years ago. When the Right Seat accidently kicked his athletic bag, the biggest knife I've ever seen - maybe a 12-in blade - fell out on the floor. I asked, "What's that for?" He said matter-a-factly, "That's protection for when we got trouble up here in the mountains and have to walk the train - I never leave the cab without it." "Cougers?" I asked. "Naw - trouble is never 4-legged up here." Scott
