By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
The man hit and killed yesterday morning by a freight train in downtown Centralia has been identified as a 48-year-old resident of Hildale, Utah.
Mathew P. Johnson had been staying with a friend in Centralia since May, according to the Lewis County Coroner’s Office.
Police examine front of train on Wednesday
The coroner’s office has concluded Johnson intentionally allowed himself to get hit by a train. He was involved in an argument with a female friend just hours earlier and left after making statements which led her, in hindsight, to believe he may have intended to hurt himself, according to Chief Deputy Coroner Carmen Brunton and the Centralia Police Department.
Aid and police were called after the northbound train hit Johnson – who was walking on the tracks between Cherry and Plum street – at 4:41 a.m. yesterday.
The train, which was traveling 40 mph in an area posted with a maximum speed of 50 mph, sounded its whistle and went into an emergency brake application, according to Gus Melonas, a spokesperson for BNSF. It was pulling another locomotive and 78 cars loaded with freight containers from Chicago to Seattle on the double main line, Melonas said.
Police detective Pat Beall said yesterday morning it appeared the man saw the train and didn’t make any effort to move off the tracks.
Fifty passenger and freight trains travel on those tracks each day, according to Melonas.
Johnson doesn’t have any family here, but he leaves behind 18 children in Utah, Brunton said.
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Read yesterday’s news story, “Update: Train kills man on tracks in Centralia this morning“
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter