If you are experiencing a crisis, help is available. You can call the Northwest Human Services Hotline at 503.581.5535 or 1.800.560.5535. The National Suicide Prevention hotline is 988. Oregon teens can contact Lines for Life’s YouthLine daily from 4-10 p.m. to chat confidentially with a trained teen by texting 839863, calling 877-968-8491 or chatting online.
A train struck and killed a 32-year-old Salem man who lay down across the tracks Monday afternoon, Salem police said.
Police responded to the Union Pacific railroad tracks near the Northeast D Street crossing around 4:50 p.m.
Witnesses told police a man was standing near the tracks and lay down just before a freight train passed.
Police identified the man as Alexander Boyd Schumpert. He was declared dead at the scene.
The collision closed the rail line between Northeast D Street and Southeast Mill Street for about three hours while the train was stopped on the tracks.
The crash was the second fatality involving a train this month in Salem.
On Aug. 16, 35-year-old Fernando Aguilera-Bravo was struck and killed by a train near the Union Pacific crossing at Northeast Blossom Drive, police said.
An Amtrak crew traveling southbound reported a man was standing on the tracks facing the oncoming train and did not move after the crew sounded the horn multiple times.
Contact reporter Rachel Alexander: [email protected] or 503-575-1241.
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Rachel Alexander is Salem Reporter’s managing editor. She joined Salem Reporter when it was founded in 2018 and covers city news, education, nonprofits and a little bit of everything else. She’s been a journalist in Oregon and Washington for a decade. Outside of work, she’s a skater and board member with Salem’s Cherry City Roller Derby and can often be found with her nose buried in a book.
