A man claims he was trying to cross between a train’s boxcars when the locomotive began to move, forcing him to hold on for two hours before jumping when the train slowed.
State Police were called to Cook’s Convenience Store in Silver Springs around 8 a.m. Sunday when the clerk called to say a man was in the store after having been injured jumping from a moving freight train.
Justin Gardner, 21, of Elmira Heights told troopers he was attempting to cross the tracks near his home and he had climbed up onto a parked train. He says the train began to move before he could get to the other side.
Gardner says the train was moving too quickly for him to safely jump off so he held onto a ladder between boxcars for almost two hours, until the train slowed in Silver Springs. He then leapt off, suffering several bumps, bruises and cuts.
He was taken to Wyoming County Community Hospital and later released to State Police, who charged him with third degree criminal trespass.
After being arraigned, he was taken to the county jail on $500 bail.
