Richmond man sleeps through train striking him

A Richmond man continued sleeping between train tracks Saturday night until a conductor woke him to say he had been hit by a train.

“No I didn’t,” replied Josh Napier to the conductor, said Richmond Police Department Lt. Donnie Benedict, supervisor of the traffic division.

Then, Benedict said, Napier put his head back down to return to sleep.

Napier, 30, was carried by police and Richmond Fire Department personnel to an ambulance in the 1900 block of North West N Street. He was transported to Reid Health with non-life-threatening injuries after the incident about 10:45 p.m. on the tracks between North West L Street and Salisbury Road.

Benedict said personnel on the Norfolk Southern train told him Napier was asleep in the middle of the tracks when the train passed over him. The train, which showed no damage to the engine’s front stopped with the single engine about 25 yards south of the crossing at Salisbury Road.

With Napier at the hospital, the train resumed its trip to Fort Wayne at 12:40 a.m.

According to a Reid Health official, Napier was stable Sunday night.