Man Survives Run-In With Train Hayden Lake Roofer In Stable Condition After Train Slams Into Flatbed Truck

A Hayden Lake man was in stable condition Wednesday after a train smashed into the cab of a flatbed truck he was driving. The train smashed the GMC like a Tonka toy, pushing it for nearly a block.

The twisted truck’s hood was gone. Its exposed engine slanted toward the ground. The passenger-side door was bent back like a banana peel.

But Myron Cropp, 48, his face covered with blood, was able to speak to amazed emergency workers who responded to the call about 2:20 p.m.

“I think he’s pretty lucky,” Hayden Lake firefighter Marc Ghirarduzzi said. “It’s like a car hitting a coffee can.”

Cropp, working for Specialized Roofing, was heading west on Garwood Road near U.S. Highway 95 toward the site of a roofing job. Although the train sounded its whistle, witnesses said, Cropp drove on through the intersection.

“I heard the train lock up his brakes,” said Donnie Frohboese, who watched from his rearview mirror as the truck headed toward the tracks. “But trains don’t stop very fast.”

Above the noise of his stereo, Frohboese said, all he heard was a “thump” - and then he saw billows of smoke.

Rescue crews from Rathdrum, Athol and Hayden showed up. So did state police and Kootenai County sheriff’s deputies. As many as 20 sets of flashing colored lights filled the intersection of Highway 95 and Garwood. Traffic along the highway nearly stopped due to gawking drivers.

Firefighter Frohboese said Cropp was unconscious at first, then came to and begged emergency workers to free him from the truck. They spent 10 minutes cutting away at the cab before Cropp was sent by ambulance to Kootenai Medical Center.

Cropp’s boss, Mike Wall, surveyed the wreckage of his red, 1969 GMC. Blood and glass covered the seats inside.

“If that had been a newer truck, he’d have been dead,” said Wall, who bought the truck when it was new.

“At least the damn things are tough old trucks.”

, DataTimes