A Clarendon man lost his life Wednesday, October 18, when the car he was riding in went around railroad cross arms and was struck by a Burlington Northern Santa Fe freight train.
Donley County Deputy Kelly Hill said the train conductor and engineer separately said two vehicles went around the cross arms traveling north at the Kearney Street crossing at about 3:00 p.m. The first car made it through, but the second car, driven by 70-year-old Naomi Tolbert of Clarendon, was struck by the westbound BNSF train. The accident was also captured on the railroad’s video, Hill said.
Tolbert’s brother, 58-year-old Blade Barker, also of Clarendon, was thrown from the car and was later pronounced dead at the scene by Justice of the Peace Pat White.
Tolbert was extricated from the vehicle by the Clarendon Volunteer Fire Department and the Associated Ambulance Authority. She was awake and alert at the scene, according to Donley County Sheriff Butch Blackburn. Hill said Tolbert was transported to Northwest Texas Hospital in Amarillo and later transferred to University Medical Center in Lubbock.
No citations or charges have been filed in the accident, which remained under investigation Thursday afternoon.
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