Crime & Safety

Three Charged After Jumping Off Tracks to Avoid Train

One of the three men was taken to a Fairfax hospital after authorities said he jumped into a Clifton ravine to avoid an oncoming commuter train headed for Manassas.

Three men are facing trespassing charges after one of them had to jump into a Clifton ravine just north of Manassas to avoid an oncoming Virginia Railway Express train.

The men—ages 19, 20 and 31—are facing misdemeanor trespassing and trespassing on a railroad track charges, according to Robin C. Chapman, spokesman for the Norfolk Southern Corporation.

Their names have not been released.

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The Fairfax County Police Department reports that the men were hiking through the woods in the Hemlock Regional Park in Clifton on the afternoon of April 4 when they came across a railroad bridge. As they crossed the bridge, they encountered the oncoming train.

Two of the men made it across, but police say a third jumped to avoid being struck by a train. He apparently injured his back and was taken to a nearby hospital by an FCPD helicopter where he was treated for his injuries.

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VRE train, #337 on the Manassas line had departed from Union Station in D.C. at 7:50 p.m.. The accident reportedly delayed the train for more than an hour.


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