9 February 2011

Saskatoon Man Hit by Train Walks Away

Saskatoon Saskatchewan - A Saskatoon man who was hit by a freight train and walked away with just some bumps and bruises says he must have been "supernaturally" protected.
 
"I'm fine, you know. Not even a limp," Leonard Nickelray told CBC News on Wednesday morning.
 
Only hours before, some time after midnight, Nickelray had been taking a shortcut home and was walking near the Canadian Pacific Railway tracks on the west side of the city.
 
Nickelray was near the corner of Avenue F and 22nd Street West when the train hit him from behind.
 
Police said he had been drinking.
 

The engineer had been blowing the horn to try to warn the man, but it didn't work.
 
Nickelray told CBC News he didn't hear it because he had earphones on and the music was turned up loud.
 
Witnesses said the impact threw Nickelray into the air, but he landed and then got right back up again and kept walking.
 
Police tracked him down a block away.
 
He did not seem to know what had happened but noted that several parts of his body hurt, police said.
 
Nickelray said some of it came back to him later.
 
"I do remember, yeah," he said. "I remember I was on the ground, and I was winded, right? And people were... asking if I was OK, and the cops came and they took me to the hospital."
 
At the hospital, the news was mostly good:  not a scratch on his face and no broken bones.
 
Nickelray was discharged later in the morning and spoke to a CBC reporter about his close encounter with the train.
 
"I believe that I was supernaturally protected, you know?" Nickelray said.
 
He is not completely out of the woods, yet, however.
 
The train had to stop for 90 minutes while railway officials investigated and a charge for trespassing on CP property is a possibility, CBC has learned.
 
Meanwhile, Nickelray says his misfortune should serve as a reminder to iPod users everywhere.
 
"Don't play your music too loud... and remember that God's watching out for you."