by Alan McArthur
Landmark reporter
A man was struck and killed by a Burlington Northern Santa Fe,train in downtown Parkville on Wednesday night.
The incident occurred around 9 p.m. last Wednesday at the Main Street railroad crossing near the former Power Plant restaurant.
According to Eric Sligar, Parkville police information officer, the department is still conducting an investigation of the incident and is currently waiting for the Jackson County Medical Examiner to positively identify the man.
Sligar said the medical examiner is attempting to identify the man through dental records. Police had initially assumed the victim is a male based on his clothes and shoes.
Sligar said that it appears the man intentionally walked onto the tracks in Parkville in front of a train headed eastbound through Parkville. The engineer of the train apparently saw the man and stopped the train as soon as possible in downtown Parkville, where it rested for around three hours while police investigated.
There were three witnesses to the incident, according to Sligar.
While the train was stopped, a number of people and vehicles were trapped on the south side of the tracks, and eventually a police car led the vehicles through English Landing Park to the rail crossing at Ball Power Equipment at the east end of the park.
According to the Platte County Sheriff's Department call log, a report of a suicide was investigated at 2 Main Street in Parkville at 8:45 p.m. on Wednesday. That address is the location of the railroad tracks.
