WYOMING, Del. – Delaware State Police have released the name of a man killed after being run over by a Norfolk Southern train in Wyoming.

The victim has been identified as 37-year-old Phillip Hartly Jr. of Dover, Del.

Troopers said it happened around 5:10 p.m., Sunday evening, when Hartly, who was riding a bicycle, tried to cross the railroad tracks on westbound Southern Boulevard in Wyoming.

Police said Hartly was stopped at the railroad crossing and was waiting for a 128-car Norfolk Southern cargo train to pass. Troopers said the train then stopped, blocking the road.

Police said Hartly then decided to crawl, with his bicycle, under the stopped train. Troopers said when he did so, the train began to move in a southbound direction, dragging Hartly with it. Police said the train then stopped again and reversed directions, traveling northbound with the man still trapped underneath.



Harold Willey lives across the street from the railroad crossing. He'd been sitting down to eat Sunday night when he heard a noise outside.

"I went up to the top of the track. I looked and saw him laying there. They said he had a bicycle. I didn't see the bike. I saw him. He was pretty messed up," Willey said. "I guess he figured since the train was stopped he could crawl underneath. When he got part of the way underneath the train started backing up."



Willey says he directed traffic around the accident as people there waited for emergency personnel.



Monday morning flowers lay next to the tracks. Destiny Pires put them there.

"A life was lost," she said. "He was alone. I think if that was someone in my family I would want them to be respected and have their life honored. His life was lost at that spot. I just didn't want it to go unnoticed."

Pires says she and her fiance saw a commotion and a many trying to pull Hartly from under the train.

"By the time my fiance got there, it was too late. The guy who was already pulling had let go and fallen backward," she said. "I just kept praying, please let him just have broken bones. Let him just be severely injured but alive. You just knew it wasn't. I stood waiting and waiting for the paramedics, just hoping there would be some kind of miracle. There wasn't."



Pires can't get that scene out of her mind.

"That's something I've never seen in my entire life. That's not something anyone ever wants to see. It just plays over and over again in slow motion."

Investigators said a witness then called 911 and Norfolk Southern personnel then contacted the conductor of the train, 21-year-old Matthew Killinger of Elkton, Md, who then stopped the train.

Hartly was pronounced dead at the scene.

Southern Boulevard, West Camden-Wyoming Avenue and Front Street in the vicinity of the crash were all closed for around 3.5 hours as troopers cleared the scene.

Police continue to investigate the incident.