PUYALLUP, Wash. — We’re learning more about the heroic efforts to try to free a man whose wheelchair became stuck on railroad tracks as a freight train approached.
Locals knew the victim as Ritchie, and on Thursday, Puyallup police identified him as 59-year-old Richard Geiger.
According to Puyallup PD, Geiger was trying to cross the railroad tracks at a crossing when his wheelchair became stuck.
He was hit by an oncoming train and killed.
Puyallup Food Bank CEO Shawn Manley says two people who work with his agency - Joe and Diane Drapek of Harvest House - saw Geiger struggling on the tracks as a BNSF freight train approached.
“Joe jumped out of his car with only a few seconds to act and he heroically attempted to lift him off. Joe also, just seconds before the train hit him (Geiger) was tugging at his seatbelt, trying to get him out. And he was unsuccessful,” Manley said.
Puyallup Police Captain Jeremy Hedrick says a second bystander joined Joe. Neither was injured, but they couldn’t free Geiger.
“And so we are looking into what exactly happened leading up to the collision,” Hedrick said.
He says it’s unclear why the wheelchair got stuck.
However, one woman, who chose not to be identified, pointed out an elevated section of cement between the sets of tracks.
“And there’s actually a lip in the middle of the road over there that causes a person to have to stop – especially with a stroller – and do the lift of the front wheels to get over it,” said the woman.
KIRO 7 measured the lip, and it extended about an inch above the tracks.
Americans with Disabilities (ADA) guidelines state that surfaces, at crossings, should be flush with the track. But it’s unclear if that includes areas between two sets of tracks.
An ADA lawyer tells KIRO 7 that because the tracks at the crossing in Puyallup handle both high-speed freight and passenger trains, maintaining crossings can involve not only the railroads but multiple government agencies.
The investigation is still in the early stages.
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