Fresno County authorities have identified a motorist who died over the weekend after his vehicle got struck by a freight train just south of Fresno, California. Updated accident reports released by the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday, June 3, named the victim as Paul Whited, a 52-year-old resident of Riverdale.

Sheriff’s deputies responded to the crash shortly after 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, May 29, following reports of an accident involving a Union Pacific train and a car. It happened on the railroad crossing in the area of Golden State Boulevard and North Avenue, a Union Pacific spokesperson confirmed.

Preliminary reports indicated that Whited was the only occupant of the involved vehicle. The car was on the railroad crossing when the Union Pacific freight train struck him. The accident reports failed to disclose if the vehicle was mobile when the crash happened. The circumstances leading to the accident remain unclear, but officers said no one in the train suffered injuries.

The Fresno County Sheriff’s Office and the Union Pacific investigators are investigating the deadly wreck, to determine exactly how and why it happened.

Railroad accidents are not uncommon, with an estimated 3000 cases recorded each year. About a thousand deaths result yearly from these occurrences, and several injuries, leaving the victims and their families distraught.

Most of these cases result from negligence on the part of the rail line operator or other human factors. A follow-up investigation would unveil these factors.

Disclaimer: The Accident News article you just read includes information obtained from numerous sources. These sources include, but are not limited to, websites and press releases from law enforcement, the county coroner, fire departments, and other news outlets. While we strive to provide readers with the most accurate information, sometimes the information received is not entirely accurate. For complete details, please refer to an official police report.

The articles published contain sensitive subject matter that may be hard to read by some. We understand that losing a loved one is hard and devastating. Accident News’s decision to share the stories is to help others who may be facing the same situations by providing appropriate resources to the general public.

Please follow and like us: