Sheriff Mike Carothers reports:

On July 4th, 2018 at 5:00 AM, the Jackson County Sheriffs Department received a call from Scott County dispatch. Scott County advised they had a male subject that called 911 and was screaming. The call was GPS pinged and was moving north along the Louisville and Indiana railroad tracks. Jackson County Dispatch advised Jackson County Deputy Brad Barker of the report. Jackson County notified Louisville and Indiana Railroad Company and advised them they believed there was a subject riding on the train that was entering Jackson County. By the time the Railroad Company got ahold of the engineer to stop the train the train entered the city limits of Seymour. Seymour Police Department was notified of the incident and had officers en route to the train in an attempt to locate the subject that called 911. Jackson County 911 Dispatch received a 911 call from the subject that was screaming, stating he fell off a train and bleeding bad from his foot. Communication between dispatchers and the subject was hindered due to the subject being deaf. Jackson County was able to get a good location of the call. The subject was located approximately 3/10 of a mile South of the Railroad crossing at County Road 50 North. Deputy Barker was given that location and responded to the area. Barker located the male subject laying on the East side of the railroad tracks. The subject was identified as Thomas Eldon White Jr. 24 year male of Perryville Mo. Thomas was suffering from a severe foot injury but was conscious and alert. Barker learned that Thomas boarded the train in Louisville and was attempting to ride the train to Indianapolis. Thomas`s foot was somehow crushed between two rail cars while riding the train and jumped from the train due to the intense pain he was in. Indiana State Police Officer Seth Davidson arrived to assist Barker. Barker and Davidson began to carry Thomas North to the railroad crossing but Thomas was in too much pain, so they stopped and waited for responding fire fighters. Fire Fighters and EMS personnel arrived with a stokes basket. Thomas was loaded in the stokes basket and brought to the waiting ambulance. Thomas was transported to the heli-pad at Schneck Medical Center where he was going to be flown out for his injuries. Once at the helipad the helicopter was unable to fly due to incoming bad weather. Thomas is being treated for his injuries at Schneck
Medical Center in Seymour Indiana.

Louisville and Indiana Railroad investigators had the train stay in its current stopped location until they could arrive on scene to conduct their investigation. This caused traffic issues for the city of Seymour due to all the railroad crossings being blocked by the train except the farthest North and South crossings.

Seymour Police Department searched the stopped train for any other possible subjects on the train as well.

Barker was assisted by the following:

Indiana State Police
Jackson County EMS
Seymour Police Department
Seymour Fire Department
Vernon Township Volunteer Fire Department
CSI Detective Bob Lucas Jackson County sheriffs Department

Louisville and Indiana Railroad Company are currently still investigating this incident. Barker credits the 911 emergency dispatchers on getting him and other personnel to the right location especially with Thomas being deaf, making communications extremely difficult.