METRO commemorates Braille Day
METRO received criticism on the fiftieth anniversary of Rosa Parks' famous act of civil rights activism on a Montgomery bus for not doing enough to commemorate the act.
Perhaps civil rights activists should be thankful, if METRO's response to Louis Braille's birthday is any indication:
A blind man walking downtown was struck by a passing Metro rail train shortly before noon Wednesday.
The man was struck by the train at the intersection of Main and Lamar.
The man was walking with his cane at the intersection of Main and Lamar when he apparently became confused and stepped into the train’s path.
The driver of the train allegedly blew the whistle to warn the victim, but he did not get out of the way in time.
The victim was transported to Ben Taub Hospital with head trauma.
I wonder if Metro Police Chief Tom Lambert and his Elite Jaywalking/Counterterror Squad will deliver the poor blind man a Braille citation at Ben Taub?
(Hat tip to Laurence Simon for the links and unfortunate imagery).
UPDATE: The initial Chron.com reporting (since updated) did not mention the man was blind. Now it does, and adds the following:
Bob Broxson, who works downtown, said he was standing on the east side of Main at Lamar when the man attempted to cross toward him.
"There was a lady ... yelling for him to stop, and the train was blowing its whistle,'' Broxson said. ``He started feeling around urgently with his cane trying to figure out where he was.''
Broxson said the train operator apparently hit the brakes, bringing the train to a stop about 15 feet past the collision site. "It wasn't the train's fault,'' he said.
Metro spokeswoman Raequel Roberts said witnesses told police the train operator sounded the horn in warning, but the man was apparently disoriented. It was not immediately known how fast the train was moving.
I've seen the train moving at a speed I would guess is above the speed limits. It would be interesting to know the train's rate of speed, and without having to file a Freedom of Information request to get the information. Perhaps one of METRO's PR people who read the blog could help us out with that?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/04/06 02:01 PM | Print | Comments (4)
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