Train Death of Hard-of-Hearing Man in Maryland Called Accident

May 18, 2010

The Washington County, Maryland Sheriff’s Office says a freight train’s fatal collision with a hearing-impaired man near Sharpsburg was an accident.

Thirty-two-year-old Omar Burkholder of Sharpsburg was killed by a Norfolk Southern train Friday afternoon.

Police say Burkholder was walking south beside the tracks on a curve between Sharpsburg and Shepherdstown, W.Va.

They say the train driver tried to slow down and sounded the horn, but family members told police Burkholder wouldn’t have heard it.

A Sharpsburg Area Emergency Medical Services official says the train was going 33 mph, which is within the acceptable speed range at that spot.