PD: Bend man walking tracks with headphones hit by train

(Update: Adding train’s starting point, destination, contents)

A Bend man sustained non-life-threatening injuries and was cited for trespassing Sunday afternoon after he was struck on the shoulder and thrown by a train that approached from behind as he walked the tracks, wearing headphones and listening to music, police said Monday.

Police officers and fire medics were dispatched around 3:30 p.m. to the BNSF Railway Depot at 240 Southeast Railroad Street on a reported train vs. pedestrian accident, Sgt. Rob Emerson said.

Police determined Kyle Justin Houser, 23, had been struck by a train just east of the depot, the sergeant said.

An investigation determined Houser had been walking on the tracks, heading northwest toward the depot, and listening to music on headphones that covered his ears, Emerson said.,

A train approached from behind him and its crew continued to use its horn to try to warn Houser, whose back was to it, the officer said.

Houser, who said he did not hear the train, was struck on the shoulder and thrown from the tracks by the train, which eventually was able to stop.

Houser was taken by ambulance to St. Charles Bend with non-life-threatening injuries, Emerson said. He also was cited for first-degree trespassing on railroad property.

The engineers aboard the northbound freight train called in the collision and Deschutes County 911 dispatchers said they the stopped train blocked the crossing at Wilson Avenue, south of the collision scene, for about two hours while the investigation was underway and the railroad brought in a replacement crew.

BNSF spokesman Gus Melonas said the 81-car train was traveling from Barstow, California to Pasco, Washington. It included four locomotives, 31 cars loaded with freight and 46 empty cars, he said.