Teen Dies In Race With Train Sandpoint High Copes With Loss Of Second Student In 2 Months

A Sandpoint teenager, running to beat a freight train to a railroad crossing, was struck and killed by the locomotive Wednesday night.

The boy was identified as Travis Carter, 17, a talented wrestler and Sandpoint High School junior.

Authorities said Carter had been drinking before he darted in front of the Montana Rail Link train traveling 53 mph. A friend with Carter tried to stop him but was unable to keep him from racing onto the tracks.

“They saw the train and Travis told his buddy, ‘We can beat it,’ and they both took off running,” said Bonner County detective Gary Johnston.

“They made it about 10 feet before the tracks when the friend realized they weren’t going to make it. He reached out and grabbed Travis to pull him back, but he stepped over the inside rail and was hit.”

Carter was killed instantly and was carried about three-quarters mile down the track, authorities said. The accident happened about 10:45 p.m. at Whiskey Jack Road and state Highway 200, four miles east of Sandpoint.

“It’s sad and so unnecessary,” said Bonner County Sheriff Chip Roos. “It totally wrecked the engineer. He is having a very hard time with this. By the time he saw him (Carter) on the tracks there was nothing he could do.”

Carter apparently hitchhiked from his Sandpoint home to his 14-year-old friend’s house on Whiskey Jack Road.

Carter tapped on his friend’s window and wanted to hitchhike another 15 miles down the highway to Hope, Idaho.

The friend, who told authorities Carter had been drinking, agreed to walk to the highway. That’s when the two boys heard the train and tried to race it.

“The friend saw the train hit Travis and him flying and he ran back to his house and dialed 911,” Johnston said.

The double set of tracks do not have lights or gates. The crossing is marked with a stop sign and crossbucks. It’s a major rail route that sees about 30 trains a day traveling up to 60 mph.

The last fatality at the crossing occurred just before Christmas in 1991. Three Bonner County men were killed when they drove in front of an oncoming train.

The train that hit Carter was headed to Spokane. The two engineers on board saw the teenagers at the last second and hit the horn and brakes.

“They were powerless to do anything about it but watch,” Roos said. “He (the engineer) didn’t even know how many he hit. He just knew he hit someone.”

Carter’s remains were taken to Coffelt Moon Chapel where authorities took blood samples to test for alcohol.

Carter’s death rocked Sandpoint High School and marked the second death of a student there in two months. Rob Parker, a 16-year-old sophomore died at his home March 2, after a drinking party.

Authorities said Parker died from a blow to his head, possibly the result of fight during the party. His death is being investigated as a possible homicide by the Bonner County prosecutor.

A crisis team and counselors were at the high school Thursday to talk with students about Carter’s death. A counselor attended all of Carter’s classes, but some of his close friends were absent Thursday.

“He was very well-known throughout the school and a lot of the students are very hurt and emotionally struck by his death,” said counselor Irene Adler. “It’s certainly more difficult for the school community as a whole coming so soon after Rob Parker’s death.”

Carter is survived by his parents, Mark and Debbie and a sister, Jessica. A memorial service will be held Saturday at 10 a.m. at Coffelt’s Moon Chapel.

, DataTimes