September 24, 2008

BOULDER (MyFOXColorado.com) - A car hit a homeless man in Boulder in a hit-and-run. Then the same man was walking back to his camp from the hospital early Wednesday when a train hit him on a bridge. That happened seven hours later. The man, 46-year-old Robert Evans, survived both incidents.

"I hope he goes and buys a lottery ticket because he's the luckiest man on the face of the earth," Boulder Police Sgt. Jim MacPherson told the Denver Post. MacPherson says he got two ambulance rides late Tuesday and early Wednesday.

Police say a hit-and-run driver struck Evans while he rode his bicycle at Folsom Street and Canyon Boulevard Tuesday night. He was treated for minor injuries at Boulder Community Hospital. He was released from the hospital at about 3:00 a.m. Evans started walking back to his camp on the northeastern side of Boulder... about five miles from the hospital. He started to cross a narrow railroad bridge near Pearl Street and Valmont Road before 5:00 a.m. Boulder Police spokeswoman Sarah Huntley says the bridge is about 50 feet long.

Investigators say Evans was most of the way across the bridge when he saw the freight train approaching. He started running toward it, because the end of the bridge that direction was closer than retreating. He didn't make it. A railing on a stairway on the side of the locomotive hit him and knocked him into a creek, 10 feet below the bridge.

He was transported in an ambulance to Boulder Community Hospital for the second time in seven hours. And for the second time in seven hours, he received treatment for minor injuries.

Investigators say the train engineer blew the whistle to try to warn the man the train was approaching. The operators of the train stopped it after it hit Evans. Officers say the engineer will not be charged with anything because they say the victim was trespassing on the bridge.

Evans will get a ticket for trespassing, since people are not allowed on the train bridge.

Yes, this person was very very lucky in that they did not die from either colision. However, you have to ask yourself why someone would take the chance by walking on a railway bridge without pedestrian room or access. Details of the first incident while he was riding his bike and was stuck by a car haven't been released, but you must ask yourself . . . Is he "lucky" or just a person who takes shortcuts and got caught twice in one day.

How about you? Do you take shortcuts?