Sigh — MetroRail strikes a Katrina evacuee:
An evacuee who was reportedly listening through headphones and looking at the ground while walking toward the Astrodome was struck by a Metro light rail train this morning, officials said.
The unidentified man, in his late 40s or early 50s, apparently didn’t see the dropped crossing arms or blinking caution lights or hear officers screaming at him as he tried to walk across the tracks at Fannin and Naomi around 11:30 a.m., said Metro spokesman George Smalley.
“He walked right into the path of the train,” Smalley said. “You don’t ever want this to happen to anybody. But it’s especially painful to someone who’s already gone through such trauma.”
The man was taken to Ben Taub General Hospital, where he was being treated for an injured spleen and other non-life-threatening injuries, he said.
(Thanks to Tom Bazan for the heads up.)
