West Carrollton police on Friday said they believed it was an accidental death. The collision occurred while it was still dark, shortly before 7 a.m., not far from the 100 block of Alex-Bell Road.
Police are still trying to determine what Nicholas Sedlak was doing at the railroad tracks. He died of multiple trauma, authorities said.
A marked intersection of the street and railroad tracks where the collision occurred had functioning gates and flashing lights, police said.
The victim should have been aware that a train was approaching, said Bill Smith, a neighbor who lives near the tracks.
“You know it’s coming, from a mile away,” Smith said Sunday. “You hear it coming, you can feel it. There’s no reason a 23-year-old male can’t get out of the way of a train.”
Norfolk Southern Railway is cooperating with police in the investigation of Sedlak’s death, railroad spokeswoman Susan Terpay said Sunday.
Miamisburg police have themselves been investigating the death of a woman whose body was found Sept. 25 along railroad tracks. Investigators concluded that Lisa Spinks, 20, a 2010 graduate of Miamisburg High School, had been stabbed to death and beaten with a rock before her body was dumped on the tracks. Two men, including Spinks’ former boyfriend, have been charged with her death and are awaiting trial.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2242 or jnolan@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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