A 61-year-old man lost his life and a young boy — his grandson — was wounded after a freight train terribly crashed into his car on Thursday afternoon at a railroad crossing in Georgia, dragging the vehicle for a good half-mile, police said.
According to Reynolds Police Chief Lonnie Holder, Melvin Turner was trying to drive across the train tracks with his grandson at Crest Hill Road as the Norfolk Southern train badly hit the car.
Holder said that he got a call of the train accident from the Taylor County Sheriff’s Department about 4:24 p.m.– the first such episode of its kind on Crest Hill Road, he told WMAZ-TV.
Mayor Butch Turner told the station the car was pushed for about half a mile.
Turner was pronounced dead on the scene by coroner Gary Lowe, and the 11-year-old was taken to a hospital in Macon, Fox 24 reported.
Details of his condition are yet to be released.