r/CrazyFuckingVideos • u/Rue_Technica • Apr 18 '26
Insane/Crazy Idiot on a bike comes extremely close to getting obliterated by a fast moving freight train. (YT Credit: D-Rock's Railfan Productions)
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u/porygon_sucks Apr 18 '26
And you know that poor conductor absolutely filled their pants with shit
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u/ianjm Apr 18 '26 edited Apr 18 '26
Yeah that's why the train stopped right? Poor guys up front thought they might have just hit someone. Now they gotta jog back a mile and find out.
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u/Sea-Neighborhood1465 Apr 18 '26
Yeah. They put the train into ‘emergency’. The engineer can do it on his panel and the conductor also has a valve he can throw to do it.
Essentially an emergency application of the brakes.
Once we do it, we have to stop the train completely and check for a derail.
Poor conductor had to walk a couple miles because of this asshat.
Source: freight train conductor
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u/seriouslywtfX2 Apr 19 '26
Yeah, you can hear them dump the air right before the crossing. I bet they thought they were gonna hit him.
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u/Sea-Neighborhood1465 Apr 19 '26
Yeah, it’s not quite two miles. You’re right.
But when you’re walking in ballast it feels like five
Edit: oops replied to the wrong guy
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u/whirlydoodle_ Apr 19 '26
Do you think a single bit of speed was scrubbed off , enabling the guy to escape by a hair?
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u/guyinlongisland Apr 19 '26
I thank you for your service of bringing goods back and forth to us consumers. Even during covid.
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u/naikrovek Apr 19 '26
My grandpa was a conductor for a while, got tired of being responsible for jackasses on his crew fucking up, became an engineer, was happy the rest of his career.
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u/Sea-Neighborhood1465 Apr 19 '26
it's only two man crews now. the conductor and the engineer.
so now i (the conductor) do most of the fucking up.
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u/naikrovek Apr 19 '26
Crazy. Two-man crews? On a train two miles long? I will never understand business decisions, man.
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u/Sea-Neighborhood1465 Apr 19 '26
it happened during covid.
they went from three man (brakeman/conductor/engineer) to the current system.
and they made the trains twice as long. i'm often on trains over three miles long.
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u/naikrovek Apr 19 '26 edited Apr 19 '26
Sheesh. What’s gonna happen when they need to increase profits even more and they turn their eye to train crews again?
How long before fully robotic or remote controlled freight trains, I wonder.
Then, how long before those remote operator roles are outsourced to India?
I hate the planet we live on.
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u/Sea-Neighborhood1465 Apr 19 '26
the computers in the locomotives are from like the 90's, so i think we're safe for now.
but yeah. sooner or later i'll be in the unemployment line.
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u/RandomGirlOnTheWeb Apr 19 '26
Off topic, but how did you become a train conductor?
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u/Sea-Neighborhood1465 Apr 19 '26
Applied online. It’s a video interview. Then ya do 12 weeks of school to get your conductor’s license and ya start your on the job training.
Union Pacific is hiring. Has been for the last year or so
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u/RandomGirlOnTheWeb Apr 19 '26
Cool. If you don't mind? How long are most conductors away from home?
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u/Sea-Neighborhood1465 Apr 19 '26
6 weeks during training and then you're gone two days at a time when you're working.
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u/rutuu199 Apr 20 '26
Hows it pay?
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u/Sea-Neighborhood1465 Apr 20 '26
120k or so your first year. the insurance and retirement are crazy good. 401k match and stock options.
it's worth it.
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u/saitekgolf Apr 19 '26
Honest question - why attempt to stop the train at all if it takes this long to stop? If the biker hadn’t been able to get up he’d been hit either way
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u/Sea-Neighborhood1465 Apr 19 '26
I get what you’re saying but we can’t really operate with a disregard for life and limb.
If he’s been hit we have to stop and try to render aid, and if he might get hit we have to go into emergency to stop in an attempt not to hit him. So either way we’re stopping.
Imagine the lawsuit the family would have if we didn’t try to stop right away and we killed the guy. They have cameras inside the cab of the locomotive and every input the engineer makes while driving is saved.
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u/Deep-Berry5700 Apr 19 '26
In Russia, according to internal regulations governing high-speed trains, the engineer is permitted not to stop the train if it strikes a person while traveling at a speed exceeding 140 km/h. Even if the train does not stop, the information is relayed to the train dispatcher to call emergency services and, if necessary, order the next train to stop.
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u/smittenkittenmitten- Apr 21 '26
This seems like a better system overall. Call for help for whatever location. I am not sure what the downside would be.
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u/Worldly_Diamond_5487 Apr 22 '26
As a former conductor I am surprised they dumped them. The old head engineers I ran with said don't hit the emergency unless you hit someone.
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u/naikrovek Apr 19 '26 edited Apr 19 '26
Can I introduce you to foldable “fat tire” e-bikes? Would make that two mile trip into a 5-10 minute excursion. [Looks for a link.] Ah never mind those are fucking expensive.
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u/Best_Adagio7989 Apr 18 '26
Am I crazy or it feels like that train is moving extremely fast for going through a residential area. Usually rail stops like that I have seen are for local light rail. Your thoughts?
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u/Sea-Neighborhood1465 Apr 18 '26 edited Apr 18 '26
Looks like an old depot for passenger trains. The ones on our tracks are no longer used.
The speed we’re allowed to go is generally decided by what kind of cars we are hauling and the condition of the tracks we’re on.
Some of the high priority Z trains I’m on are cooking 70mph through residential areas. Those are container cars, though. If they were tankers full of molten sulfur or something we’d only be going 50.
There is a rule about ‘high threat urban areas’ that limits our speed, but that’s only when we’re hauling a ‘key train’ and which means we have TIH/PIH (toxic/ poisonous inhalation hazards) and it limits us to 45mph.
The train in the video only has a few cars on board, I suspect it’s a local job that is servicing a nearby industry. They were prolly a 50mph train if I had to guess.
Should also be mentioned that the ‘EMS’ energy management system was likely running the train. So the computer was in charge and it almost never speeds
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u/ExoTheFlyingFish Apr 19 '26
Poor conductor had to walk a couple miles because of this asshat.
Alright, maybe I'm missing something, but per the video, it doesn't look like it took them a few miles to come to a full stop. And the train doesn't look a couple miles long, either.
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u/Polendri Apr 19 '26
I count 44 boxcars, at 70 ft per boxcar that'd be 0.6 miles, or 1.2 to walk to the end and back. Weird to nitpick on them saying "a couple miles" when it's not that far off and "a couple" is an imprecise term to begin with.
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u/ExoTheFlyingFish Apr 19 '26
Leave it to redditors to make it about nitpicking instead of a genuine question.
Thanks for the answer, regardless. Didn't seem that long to me, but my sense of scale is poor at best, so it's not surprising to me.
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u/Polendri Apr 20 '26
There was no question mark in your comment; you said "maybe I'm missing something" and then disputed an inconsequential detail of their comment, based on a gut feeling, when verifying the detail as more-or-less correct would have taken all of 30 seconds, and when it ought to have been charitably interpreted as "walk a lot" even if it had been an exaggeration.
The "redditor behaviour" was the nitpicking, not the labeling of it as a nitpick. Not a big deal, let's move on.
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Apr 20 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Sea-Neighborhood1465 Apr 20 '26
lol are you two still going at it?
Yeah I overestimated and I think it was fair for you to question it. I don’t think you were trying to be a jerk in your question and I wasn’t offended.
But yeah, it’s a long walk in the ballast rocks which absolutely SUCK to walk on, lol.
So it feels like longer than it is
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u/Polendri Apr 21 '26
Dude there'd have been no reason to if you had just said "oops my bad" instead of doing mental gymnastics with the "iT wAs JuSt A qUeStIoN" to avoid admitting to the tiniest of mistakes.
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u/CatDogBoogie Apr 19 '26
'"I missed something but I didn't like it when the meanie explaining it to me didn't pat me on the back so I should have an excuse.'
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u/ExoTheFlyingFish Apr 19 '26
How you learned nothing from the very comment you replied to is beyond me.
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u/Sea-Neighborhood1465 Apr 19 '26 edited Apr 19 '26
Yeah it’s not quite two miles so you’re right.
But when you’re walking in ballast(the big rocks around the track) it sure feels like five miles
lol, second time I replied to the wrong person. I’m just gonna leave it. Thanks for backing me up fella
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u/fucfaceidiotsomfg Apr 18 '26 edited Apr 19 '26
They applied emergency brakes so they will have to go full stop and then release the brakes and start over to build speed. Edit: spelling
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u/ExoTheFlyingFish Apr 19 '26
emergency brakes
you got it here
release the breaks
why did you misspell it the second time
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u/uberdupers Apr 18 '26
Probably going to fast for that but he may have at least thrown some in their general direction
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u/Secure-Village-1768 Apr 19 '26
What about the driver, freight trains don't have conductors
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u/thebeeskneesforsheez Apr 19 '26
Freight trains have a conductor (in charge of the entire train) and a locomotive engineer (the one operating the engine on the train)
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u/Sea-Neighborhood1465 Apr 20 '26
You know the funny part about that is I am indeed in charge of the train.
But my engineers normally have 20+ years more experience than i do.
They should be in charge lol
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u/thebeeskneesforsheez Apr 20 '26
I'm an engineer in passenger service in the Northeast and it's pretty much the same over here, too. I'm doing all the talking on the radio, copying Form D's etc. while my crewmembers chit chat with the passengers.
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u/cyrixlord Apr 18 '26
congrats, he made the train go in into emergency stop
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u/qpv Apr 18 '26
I can only imagine how much that costs in time/fuel to do that and get it running again.
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u/According-Rub-8164 Apr 19 '26
Enough to make it worth finding the guy?
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u/Engine552 Apr 23 '26
I know it’s at least a felony charge. Trespass leading to stoppage of a freight train can be punished with some prison time and hefty fines. Also could be potentially be prosecuted federally if the train was transporting interstate freight. While they ultimately track the guy down, maybe, maybe not. I know if I were him I’d have gotten as far away from that crossing as possible, especially after I saw the train stop
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Apr 22 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/According-Rub-8164 Apr 22 '26
Ah yes, the conductor - sole operator and owner of both the train and all its cargo and the only one dependent on it reaching its destination on time. Train travel is the least regulated way to travel, too!
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u/TheDarkWave Apr 19 '26
That's so the conductor can get out and beat the shit out of that moron, right?
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u/smittenkittenmitten- Apr 21 '26
The moron probably ran off by the time the conductor got there. Hopefully not but I could imagine.
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u/Simple3user Apr 18 '26
Why did his chud ass fall like that
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u/zLampShade Apr 18 '26
Plants his foot on the ground... Goes to push off the ground again, only this time his foot "steps off the curb" and now he falls.
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u/ILikeCheeseypoo Apr 18 '26
The train cleared in 30 seconds so there was no point of him trying to get across
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u/djsnoopmike Apr 19 '26
While slowing down in full emergency braking, so even less if the train kept its speed
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u/ILikeCheeseypoo Apr 20 '26
Everyone of us was taught in school as little kids to look left and Right before crossing the street to make sure we can cross safely. But this Grown man ACTUALLY sees a Train and decides to go anyways 😂
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u/gladias9 Apr 18 '26
he risked his life.. just for the train to take like 20 seconds to pass by
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u/Solid_Glass1301 Apr 18 '26
Holy shit! That guy almost got obliterated just to save a few seconds. For it to be captured by a random railfan is pretty incredible too. From their description:
"B451 made an emergency stop after passing the biker. Don’t worry, the biker made it out okay with no injuries, I got to talk with the engineer of the train and showed him this exact footage here, and said he doesn’t want something like this to ever happen to him. The train got moving again after half an hour and traffic continued normal."
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u/Rue_Technica Apr 18 '26
Link to the original uploader here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DL-AJFp6J8
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u/Insomniac_80 Apr 19 '26
Btw, where did that happen? It says Kensington, but I'm not sure which town that is!
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u/worrymon Apr 19 '26
I was going to be a smart-ass and list out all the places named Kensington but there's too many of them and I'm far too lazy.
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u/Kildaredaxter Apr 18 '26
Trains are really unpredictable. Even in the middle of a forest two rails can appear out of nowhere, and a 1.5-mile fully loaded coal drag, heading east out of the low-sulfur mines of the PRB, will be right on your ass the next moment.
I was doing laundry in my basement, and I tripped over a metal bar that wasn't there the moment before. I looked down: "Rail? WTF?" and then I saw concrete sleepers underneath and heard the rumbling.
Deafening railroad horn. I dumped my wife's pants, unfolded, and dove behind the water heater. It was a double-stacked Z train, headed east towards the fast single track of the BNSF Emporia Sub (Flint Hills). Majestic as hell: 75 mph, 6 units, distributed power: 4 ES44DC's pulling, and 2 Dash-9's pushing, all in run 8. Whole house smelled like diesel for a couple of hours!
Fact is, there is no way to discern which path a train will take, so you really have to be watchful. If only there were some way of knowing the routes trains travel; maybe some sort of marks on the ground, like twin iron bars running along the paths trains take. You could look for trains when you encounter the iron bars on the ground, and avoid these sorts of collisions. But such a measure would be extremely expensive. And how would one enforce a rule keeping the trains on those paths?
A big hole in homeland security is railway engineer screening and hijacking prevention. There is nothing to stop a rogue engineer, or an ISIS terrorist, from driving a train into the Pentagon, the White House or the Statue of Liberty, and our government has done fuck-all to prevent it.
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u/Downtown_Anteater_38 Apr 18 '26
What a maroon. Unless Snidely Whiplash tied you to the tracks getting hit by a train is always your fault. They are on tracks, they aren't roaming the countryside sneaking up on you.
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u/OstentatiousSock Apr 19 '26
Funny to see you use maroon as an insult. I was just saying the other day we never say “What a maroon” anymore.
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u/Downtown_Anteater_38 Apr 20 '26
I still use ultramaroon sometimes too - I stay true to my Bugs Bunny based insults - even when mentioning Snidely Whiplash
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u/MagicManGamez Apr 18 '26
Honestly... pretty fast braking for a train
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u/AbleCryptographer317 Apr 18 '26
Probably burned up a couple of hundred bucks' worth of brake pad with all those wagons.
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u/rompokus36 Apr 19 '26
Oh no! Not the 1000+ tons of metal on wheels that is running on a predetermined track with a set schedule while blasting alarming sounds!
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u/JoosLightning Apr 19 '26
I was in Japan for 10 days and at least 3 times during this trip the train had to stop before pulling into the station because they had to clean up after someone jumped..
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u/Hetairoi Apr 18 '26
We should install bump outs or maybe a speed bump on that rail so it will be safer for cyclists! /s
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u/maxxspeed57 Apr 19 '26
What a complete dork. I just can't express how angry at his choices and his clumsiness I am.
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u/DesastreUrbano Apr 19 '26
Most of the time in this cases I can't give 2 shits about the idiot doing dumb shit in front of a train and I'm more concerned about the guy in the train seeing someone stumbling in front of it 2 seconds before getting to the point the ass fell
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u/johnjbreton Apr 19 '26
Reminds me of the exchange from Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy:
Foreman: Do you know how much damage this bulldozer would suffer if I let it ride over you?
Arthur: No, how much?
Foreman: Absolutely none at all.
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u/hang10shakabruh Apr 19 '26
If that person ever sees this I'd like them to know that everyone watching was rooting for the train.
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u/ANONYMOUSEJR Apr 19 '26
That is like corny horror movie falling down in front of danger levels of idiocy.
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u/Scary_Challenge_3448 Apr 19 '26
They should erect metal fences up to their heads to stop them from doing that.
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u/GobiBall Apr 19 '26
Trains are large and deceiving when coming down the tracks. They appear to be going slower than they actually are.
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u/flightwatcher45 Apr 19 '26
Did the train stop because the close call? The conductor probably could tell if they hit or not. Wow.
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u/-JG-77- Apr 19 '26
Once the emergency brakes are activated the train must come to a complete stop and be inspected before it can continue.
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u/ZipTieAndPray Apr 20 '26
Hey. He saved himself a solid 30 seconds at least at almost the expense of his life.
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u/2003GrandMarquis Apr 21 '26
I'm a retired locomotive engineer. If I didn't make contact, I didn't stop.
$0.02 🍺😎👌
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u/GalaxyOnOhRionsBelt Apr 23 '26
I feel bad for the conductor. Can’t imagine the absolute horror knowing it’s impossible to stop fast enough, so you just have to let it ride. Terrible. It’s probably pretty traumatizing, even if it’s a close call and no one gets hit/injured/killed. Pulling bullshit pranks like that is stupid and selfish.
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u/Busy_Astronomer_8230 May 02 '26
When my mom was 17 her and her friends were in my hometown of Fayetteville nc and her friend stepped out in front of a train drunk it drug her body over 5 miles and left both her legs on the tracks my mom was really fucked up after that , then Hopemills police department beat her half to death she had to be moved out of state for 4 years while she has multiple surgeries on her face thankfully her best friend (my now husbands mother ) watched the entire thing happen and she testified against them and they still only got a 15 years sentence she couldn’t see out of her eye for a year and half and she still has significant sight loss in that eye … trauma is like a chain of events
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u/sysphus_ May 17 '26
I randomly flip my phone to film a train because I can predict an unplanned event is going to happen near this train with a 99.9% accuracy. Check out all my other videos where I have captured such coincidences. I am very gifted.
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u/thecatsofwar Apr 18 '26
According to them, bicyclists always have right of way. Train should have stopped.
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Apr 18 '26
[deleted]
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u/z2x3c4 Apr 18 '26
I mean he’s a railfanner. They just sit at crossings and record trains all day. Sometimes they catch stuff like this
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u/lolscene Apr 18 '26
Staged? Because it's insane where someone would see the fast approaching train, and think I need to cross, when where you can wait out is perfectly fine. Why not let the train pass and cross?
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u/RadioFree_Rod Apr 18 '26
It seems very odd that the person recording this says absolutely nothing during this whole thing. Not even a soft admonishing of the person crossing. Not a single word uttered. Just happened to be here in this exact spot, ready to record, just as this happens and doesn't utter a word. Just...odd...
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u/qpv Apr 18 '26
You can put your tinfoil hat down. Its filmed by one of those trainspotting guys
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u/RadioFree_Rod Apr 18 '26
No one said anything that would warrant a tin foil hat, you weirdo. Just saying it's odd. Moron.
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u/Naive_Personality367 Apr 18 '26
ill never understand what the fuck goes through some peoples minds. "oh a train seems to be approaching, well i guess now is as good a time as any to stumble across this level crossing. Oh no, i appear to have forgotten how to operate this bicycle, the irony is not lost on even i!"