A man trying to help the driver of a minivan that had plunged down an embankment died Tuesday afternoon after a train struck him and severed his legs, Fulton County police told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The horrific wreck happened when the minivan traveling south on Roosevelt Highway, southwest of Atlanta, left the roadway and plunged down a 15- to 20-foot embankment, landing on its side next to CSX Transportation railroad tracks, Officer Scott McBride with Fulton police told the AJC.
Another driver, who saw the minivan leave the roadway, got out of his vehicle and tried to go down the embankment on foot, McBride said. But the man, identified by police Tuesday evening as DeKai Abusani Armonrassi, apparently fell, landing on the train tracks, witnesses told police.
An approaching train struck Armonrassi on the tracks, severing both of his legs, McBride said. Armonrassi, 48, was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, where he later died.
The train narrowly missed hitting the minivan, and rescuers had to extricate its driver, 83-year-old Herbert Sinkfield of Fairburn, before also transporting him to Grady, McBride said. Sinkfield's grandson, Rodney Sinkfield, told the AJC his grandfather has broken ribs, but was otherwise in stable condition Tuesday night.
"He's a little shaken up," Rodney Sinkfield said. "I don't know if he knows why he drove off the road."
Fulton County police and firefighters remained on the scene through Tuesday afternoon, working to determine what caused the minivan to leave the roadway.
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