For the second time in less than a month a person was hit by a train in Flagstaff. And, for the second time in less than a month, a person has died after being hit by a train in Flagstaff.
The latest casualty of the Flagstaff railroad tracks is 57-year-old John Burgin, of Glendale.
Flagstaff police say on Friday night officers responded to the Walnut Canyon overpass after they'd received calls that someone had been hit by a train. When they got there they found Burgin dead.
A spokesman for the Flagstaff Police Department tells New Times the incident is currently under investigation but it initially appears that Burgin jumped onto the train from the overpass.
We asked the spokesman if it was a suicide or if Burgin was tryin' to
hitch a ride. He said it definitely looked more like a suicide.
Should that be the case, jumping on to a moving train certainly wouldn't
be our first choice if we were planning to end it all, but at least
Burgin chose a thorough method. In other words, it'd be pretty tough to
argue that jumping onto a moving train is a "cry for help."
Earlier this month another man was killed
after being hit by a train in Flagstaff. That man, 47-year-old Johnnie
Augustine, it seems, wasn't looking to kill himself. Augustine, rather,
was drunk and thought he could win a race with a train. Unfortunately
for Augustine, he was the silver medalist in that race.
Augustine tried to run across the tracks as a train approached and was
hit by what witnesses described as a "glancing blow." As "glancing" as
it may have been, it was enough to kill Augustine, who died at the
scene.
