It Was a Lucky Roll--Disabled Man Eludes Oncoming Train

A man who rolled out of his wheelchair moments before it was destroyed by a fast-moving freight train said Friday he was lucky to survive with only scrapes on his elbows.

“I just rolled off of it about four feet away from the train and it went flying by,” said Donald Bjorklund, who has multiple sclerosis. “I just rolled, turned over and covered my head. It was so scary. I was very close.”

Bjorklund, 28, said his electric-powered wheelchair became caught on railroad tracks Wednesday as he tried to cross.

“I was going across after I got through getting my hair cut. I was over on Washington (Street). That was the wrong way to go,” he said. Bjorklund said he generally takes a different route home, using a crossing where the tracks are smoother.

The front wheel became lodged between the rail and a tie as he crossed the third of three sets of tracks, he said.

“I got over the lower tracks fine but got stuck on the other ones. I tried pushing but couldn’t get it free,” he said.

“I looked and, man, there was a train coming,” he said. “So I tried pushing some more but couldn’t do it. I have MS and I can’t do much with my legs anyway.”

Bjorklund said he continued trying to dislodge the front wheel but to no avail. Finally, he said he rolled out of the chair just before the train went roaring by.

He said the eastbound Union Pacific train dragged the wheelchair about half a mile before stopping. The $1,700 chair was destroyed, he said.