PERHAM -- A pedestrian is hospitalized in Fargo with serious injuries after being struck by an Amtrak passenger train in downtown Perham.
Details are sketchy, and no names have been released.
But according to Perham Police Officer Phillip Vaughn, he was called to the scene in the early morning hours Sept. 26. The incident occurred at the rail intersection on 3rd Ave SW, just 25 yards from Perham City Hall.
The individual was struck by the westbound Amtrak. Perham emergency crew and police officers responded at the scene, and the victim was then transported to MeritCare in Fargo.
A second man was walking with the victim, but was unhurt, according to Vaughn.
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This is the third accident on the tracks through Perham in less than six months. A man was killed last spring, a mile east of town, when the van he was driving was struck at a rail inserction with a residential road. Late last summer, a truck driver stalled on the tracks and a train collided with the rig. The driver was unhurt in that accident, which occurred at the same intersection as the Sept. 26 incident.
The Burlington Northern-Santa Fe train engineer stopped the train a short distance after the accident. Train traffic was backed up for several hours before the accident scene was investigated and cleared.
"(The victim) was pretty beat up...and the scene was complete chaos at first," said Officer Vaughn, who credited the EMTs and the BN-SF crew for their work at the accident scene. "The train engineer wa sable to stop a short distance past town, and he was right there helping us out."
No information on the victim or the second pedestrian is being released, pending further investigation
