Buffalo teen hit and killed by train may not have heard it approaching

A girl who was killed Thursday walking on railroad tracks in Buffalo likely was wearing noise-canceling headphone buds and might not have heard an approaching Canadian Pacific freight train, police said Friday.

Tyler Wood, 16, of Buffalo, was listening to the headphones, attached to a music player on her phone, when she left her home to walk to a store Thursday evening, said Buffalo Police Chief Mitchell Weinzetl. The device and the headphones were found near her body.

At this point, her death appears to have been accidental, Weinzetl said, adding that the engineer and conductor of the loaded mile-and-a-half-long train said the girl made no attempt to leave the tracks before she was hit. The Wright County Coroner's investigation is ongoing.

The engineer also told Weinzetl that he tried to stop the train and that he sounded the train's horn and siren, to no avail. It would have taken from three-quarters of a mile to a mile to stop that train, said Canadian Pacific spokesman Jeff Johnson.

There were no eyewitnesses, but several people in the area reported hearing the train's sirens, Weinzetl said. In the next week, officials will review the train's "black box" video recorder, which will contribute to the coroner's eventual ruling.

On Friday, Wood's family could not immediately be reached for comment.

At Buffalo High School, where Wood was a junior, Principal Mark Mischke said she had transferred to the district last year. She played viola in the school's orchestra.

The school was offering support for students and staff and tried to keep things normal -- "As normal as it can be in a tragic situation like this," Mischke said.

Previous incidents

In February, a 17-year-old boy from Galesburg, Mich., was killed as he walked along railroad tracks while wearing headphones.

In May, a 15-year-old Warwick, R.I., girl wearing headphones died after she was hit by a school bus.

Ads for various headphone products speak of ambient noise-canceling capabilities from 70 to 87.5 percent. Chris Murphy, spokesman for Bose Corp., one of several companies who make such headphones, said Friday that each product comes with cautionary instructions, warning consumers not to use them while driving or "where the inability to hear outside sounds may present a danger to you or others."

In Buffalo, trains pass along the tracks east of the intersection of Hwy. 55 and Second Street S. several times a day, Weinzetl said. While railroads are private property, however, he said he didn't know of any law that would prohibit pedestrians from using them.

Johnson reiterated that both railroads and rail yards are private property and cautioned people to "stay away from trespassing on the railroad tracks for their own safety, because a train could be traveling any direction at any time."