Worker Killed when Train Hits Truck

Danforth, IL (WorkersCompensation.com) – An Illinois Department of Transportation worker is dead after his truck was hit by a train earlier this month.

The incident is one of several deaths on the job so far this year.

According to troopers with the Illinois State Police, officers were called to a wreck on US Route 45 in Danforth involving a train and an IDOT truck.

The IDOT said Aaron Pittman Teague was driving a snowplow to clear roads across Central Illinois when his truck was hit by a passing Canadian National freight train. Photos of the incident location showed the intersection had no warning lights or bar gates.

IDOT officials said Pittman-Teague had been with the department since 2023. He was taken to a nearby hospital but later died of his injuries.

Witnesses at the scene said they heard the train blowing its whistle about a quarter of a mile away from the incident. Within moments, the witness said, he heard a boom, and ran out to see what had happened. He told news media that’s when he saw a large debris field and call 911.

Local residents had taken the initiative to clear brush around the intersection, officials said, but the railroad responsible for the intersection had not installed safety equipment. According to WCAI, the Illinois Commerce Commission had added the crossing to a list of those that needed automatic lights, gates and a bell. However, they had not been installed yet, officials said.

The transportation department offered its condolences to the worker’s family.

“We are deeply saddened by the tragic loss of Aaron Pittman-Teague,” the department said in a statement. “Our thoughts and sympathies go out to his family and to all of those impacted. The department will be cooperating with the Illinois State Police as they continue to investigate.”

In Florida, a construction worker died after getting pinned under a tandem roller.

According to the Palm Bay Police Department, a 62-year-old construction worker is dead in Palm Bay, Florida after he was pinned beneath an asphalt roller.

Officials said the man, Noel Alsworth Soleyn, was working with a crew paving a neighborhood road when he was run over by a large BOMAG tandem asphault roller. Police records indicate Soleyn was pinned under the machine from his stomach down on Dec. 10. Officers were able to pull him out from under the machine, and he was taken to a nearby hospital. However, Soleyn succumbed to his injuries.

An investigation into the incident was initiated by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Officials said they will be investigating Timothy Rose Contracting out of Vero Beach, Florida.

The Palm Bay Police Department said the accident remains under investigation.

In Oakland, Cal., one worker is dead following a work-related accident at a construction site.

Police in Oakland said they were called to the 400 block of 30th Street on the morning of Jan. 8 for an unresponsive individual. Upon arrival they found a person with major injuries. Paramedics responded to the scene as well and provided the injured person with treatment, but pronounced them dead at the scene later.

The initial police investigation states the individual, who was not named, was killed in some kind of “work-related incident.”

The police report did not make clear what kind of workplace the individual was at, or how they died.

And in Taos, a grocery store worker was killed when they were stabbed in the parking lot.

Officials said an Allsup employee died on Jan. 8 after they were stabbed just outside of the store. According to Taos Police Lt. Stephen Ortega, video surveillance of the incident showed that the victim left the building and was approached by the suspect Alden Lujan. The video shows there was a confrontation, and Lujan was seen striking the victim near his collarbone.

“With that one strike, he struck the victim,” Ortega said. “It was near the collarbone area. There’s an artery there that I'm pretty sure he hit, so that caused him to lose a lot of blood really fast.

It was the victim’s first day on the job.

 ”What we do know is that Alden was a customer going into the store,” Ortega said. “According to video surveillance, it looked like he had some words exchanged with the victim. In this, we learned the victim was an employee of Allsup's. What we gathered was this was his very first day there.”

The victim was transported to Holy Cross Medical Center, but died at the hospital.

 Lujan turned himself into Pueblo tribal authorities, who turned him over to the Taos police.

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