No One Was Hurt
In Collision Here
About 6:45 A.M.
BYBILLJONES
STAFF WRITER
A tractor-trailer loaded with canned beans was struck by a southbound Norfolk Southern freight train at the Coile Street railroad crossing off Snapps Ferry Road about 6:45 a.m. this morning.
No injuries were reported as a result of the collision.
GPD Officer Jeff Craft said at the scene this morning that Bobby Coffey, the driver of the Swift Transportation tractor-trailer, told police he had been attempting to enter the lot of the So-Pak-Co plant when he encountered a closed gate and came to a stop.
The rear of the trailer was on the Norfolk Southern railroad tracks, police said.
As Coffey, of Middleburg, Fla., was walking back to ensure that his trailer had cleared the railroad crossing, a southbound Norfolk Southern freight train operated by Jackie Nicley, of Maynardville, Tenn., struck the rear of the trailer before Coffey could move it off the tracks, according to Officer Craft.
The collision knocked the trailer off the tracks into a ditch, and the right side of the trailer burst open, spilling cases and cans of Bush's Best light red kidney beans onto the tracks and the ground beside them, Craft said.
"We've got beans everywhere," the officer noted by telephone from the scene about 7:45 a.m.




