Arkansas man killed by northbound train in Ridgeland while walking on tracks, coroner says
59-year-old Arkansas man Randy Vannatter was struck and killed by a northbound train while walking on the tracks in Ridgeland earlier this month, according to the Jasper County Coroner’s Office.
Just before 8:15 a.m. Sept. 4 the CSX freight train’s engine struck and killed Vannatter near Taylor Mill Road, a back road that runs between U.S. 278 and I-95 just north of Ridgeland. He was pronounced dead at the scene, according to Jasper County Coroner Willie P. Aiken.
The CSX conductor tried braking and sounding the horn to prevent the collision, but the train’s 78 mph speed was too fast to stop in time, according to Lt. Daniel Litchfield, a spokesperson for the Ridgeland Police Department.
Vannatter is the third pedestrian killed this year by trains passing through Jasper County. The body of Hardeeville man Jason Brown was found near the tracks south of the town’s Main Street in early April. In May, another incoming train struck and killed Ramiro Victorico Gonzalez Badillo, also of Hardeeville.
Funeral services for Vannatter have not yet been scheduled but will be held at Allen Funeral Home in Ridgeland, according to the man’s obituary.
