Updated at 9:43 a.m. and 11:06 a.m. and 11:43 a.m.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
A 58-year-old man was struck and killed by a train in Centralia overnight.
Centralia police say witnesses told them he was standing on the tracks when he was hit by a northbound freight train.
It happened about 12:30 a.m. in the area near Chestnut Street and South Tower Avenue, where there are no pedestrian crossings, according to the Centralia Police Department.
Sgt. Stacy Denham said officers spoke to the train’s engineer and conductor and learned the man turned and looked at the train before impact. He didn’t move after repeated blasting of the train’s horn, according to police.
Lewis County Coroner Warren McLeod says he has concluded it was an accident.
The victim, Michael T. Patton, lives in rural Chehalis, according to McLeod.
Police detective Rick Hughes said Patton had an unopened pack of cigarettes and an unscratched lottery ticket on him. He appears to have had some mental issues – specifically what, Hughes said he did not know – that may have caused him not to react quickly.
Hughes said he is not sure why Patton was in Centralia so late at night.
BNSF spokesperson Gus Melonas said it is the second fatality on train tracks in Washington this year. The tracks were shut down for two hours.
“We can’t encourage the public enough to be aware that trains move on any track, at any time, in any direction,” Melonas said.
The stretch of tracks through Centralia is the busiest route in the state, with an average of 60 trains each day, according to Melonas.