# Man, 20, killed on tracks in Ipswich



## DeputyFife (Jun 28, 2005)

Man, 20, killed on tracks in Ipswich 







 
http://www.ecnnews.com/cgi-bin/O5/snstory.pl?-sec-News+fn-ipstrain-20060624-+page_1 
By Paul Leighton 
_Staff writer _

IPSWICH - A 20-year-old Ipswich man who was lying on the railroad tracks died yesterday when a train engineer mistook him for a "piece of paper" and ran over him, according to MBTA police.

MBTA police said they did not know why John Lee was lying on the tracks or if he was conscious or alive when the train hit him. They did not rule out suicide.

"There's no way of knowing the cause of death until it's looked at by the medical examiner in Boston," said Lt. Detective Mark Gillespie of the MBTA police.

The collision took place around 9:30 a.m. about a half-mile from the Ipswich train station near an area known as Ice House Crossing, in a secluded area behind the River Ridge condominiums. Lee was pronounced dead at the scene, according to Ipswich police.

Gillespie said the train had just rounded a curve when the engineer spotted something on the tracks about 500 feet ahead.

"He didn't recognize it as a body," Gillespie said. "He thought it was a piece of paper."

MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo said the engineer applied the emergency brake as he got closer but couldn't stop in time.

Gillespie said the train was traveling toward Ipswich at 60 mph, which he said is the speed limit, and had about 60 passengers. None of the passengers was hurt, according to Pesaturo. The passengers got off the train and walked about a half-mile to the Ipswich train station.

Lee lived at 39 Turnpike Road, which is Route 1. No one answered the door yesterday afternoon at the home.

Jane Mulloy, a resident of the River Ridge condominium complex, said a young man had been hiding in the bushes alongside the tracks, then ran onto the tracks just before the accident.

Mulloy said the man was hiding because she had called police when the man and two others were about to jump into a swimming pool at the complex. The pool is for condo residents only, she said. Mulloy said she also found a bag of beer covered with a shirt near the pool.

Police would not confirm whether Lee had been hiding in the bushes or whether he was one of the men involved in the earlier incident.

The MBTA shut down the tracks between Newburyport and Ipswich from the time of the accident until just after noon and used buses to transport passengers, Pesaturo said.

The accident is under investigation by MBTA, state and Ipswich police.


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## Goose (Dec 1, 2004)

A bag of beer, eh? Was he drinking it with a straw?

:ermm:


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