ANN ARBOR (WXYZ) — A 20-year-old man who had been sleeping on train tracks in Ann Arbor was hospitalized after getting his hand stuck in an incoming freight train, according to officials.
The incident reportedly happened around 9:30 p.m. on Monday, with first responders dispatched to the Ann Arbor Railroad Tracks between East Huron Street and Miller Avenue.
Officials say firefighters found the young man on the tracks, and say that that a northbound train ran over him. According to a post by the city's Fire Department on Facebook, the train was "traveling at a very slow speed and was able to stop within a relatively slow distance" once it's driver realized a person was under the train.
Authorities say the man's left hand was caught in the rear axle of the lead locomotive, pinning it between the wheel, axle and rail gear, with the man laying in between the rails of the track.
"Shockingly, the hand injury was the only major trauma," the fire department said in the post.
The department says it took a while to get the man out from under the train due to the strength of the metal and where the man was located on the tracks. The Ann Arbor Police Department eventually drove out with a surgical team to prepare for a possible field amputation, but the man was able to free in just under two hours.
After he was freed, the man was transported to the hospital, where he is in stable conditions.
"This was a once in career incident for those involved," the department said in the post. "Normally, person versus train incidents are fatal. This was a true team effort."
The agencies that assisted the Ann Arbor police department for this endeavor include:
- AAPD
- Huron Valley Ambulance
- Michigan Medicine Survival Flight
- Michigan Medicine Department of Surgery, division of Acute Care Surgery
- Pittsfield Township Fire Department
