Cyclist loses control, struck by train

Witness says rider `jerked his wheel,' fell, was then hit in head

Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2007

By Marcie Young
Charlotte Observer Staff Writer

HICKORY --A bicyclist riding through downtown Hickory was injured Monday when he lost control of his bike and was struck by a passing train, witnesses said.

Mack Junior Johnson, 53, of Hickory was riding his bike about 10:50 a.m. through a parking lot in Union Square, Hickory's city center, while a train was passing through, Hickory police said.

"I saw him ride up the sidewalk toward the train, and that's when he jerked his wheel and just lost control," said witness Justin Cornett.

Johnson fell to the ground, Cornett said, and was hit in the head by the passing train.
Cornett, who was setting up an ice cream and hot dog stand in Union Square, ran to get his cell phone from his car, he said, while his co-worker, Sherry Baxter, ran to where the man was lying near the train.

"I went over immediately to check his pulse," she said. "I knew he was in trouble."

Baxter, who is trained in first aid and CPR, said Johnson was unconscious, had a rapid pulse and was bleeding severely from the back of the head.

"He had just smiled at me," Baxter said, "right before he got hit."

Johnson was taken to Frye Regional Medical Center and was transported Monday afternoon to the trauma unit at Mission Hospital in Asheville, police said. His condition was not available Monday evening.

The 36-car and seven-engine cargo train was stalled on the tracks for more than three hours after the accident, and police blocked downtown traffic between Fourth Street N.W. and North Center Street, said Capt. Clyde Deal of the Hickory Police Department.

It was the second time in less than four months that a passing train in Hickory has hit a person near the railroad tracks. On July 31, a cargo train hit and critically injured Lester Glass, who was walking near the tracks in southeast Hickory.

Monday's accident happened less than a mile from where Glass was hit.


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