Authorities said they believe that a stolen Jeep that was abandoned on railroad tracks in Craighead County and smashed by a train on Monday morning was left there intentionally.
The crash was reported just after 4 a.m. as a “train versus vehicle accident with injury” on Craighead County 623, just south of Craighead County 679, said Justin Rolland, chief deputy of the Craighead County sheriff’s office.
A BNSF train traveling north spotted the Jeep on the tracks, stationery with its engine running and lights on, according to Rolland.
“By the time they threw the emergency brake it was too late,” he said.
First responders discovered, however, that the destroyed vehicle was abandoned, Rolland said.
Deputies ran the tags and traced the Jeep to its owner in Murray Creek, and when authorities notified the owner the person said they didn’t know it had been stolen, according to the sheriff’s office.
Nobody on the train was injured in the crash, apart from being "shook up,” Rolland said.
Authorities were investigating the theft and wreck Monday afternoon, and Rolland said there was "a good chance" the vehicle was placed there so that a train would crash into it. In his 27-year-career, the chief deputy said he’d never heard of anything like that happening before.
“I just hope we don’t have a repeat of it,” he said.