Amtrak Train Kills Husband And Wife, Police Say Homeless Couple May Have Struggled On The Tracks

When an Amtrak train kills a husband and wife there is certain to be an investigation, but now police are saying there may have been a struggle on the train tracks between married couple Derek Lowe, 38, and Tina Lowe, 33.

In a related report by the Inquisitr, a 70-year-old woman trapped between a subway platform and the train escaped only after the crowd rocked the train back and forth on its tracks, and the whole thing was caught on video.

Amtrak train 194 originated in Charlotte and was carrying 166 passengers to New York. Early Sunday morning at 9:48 a.m., the Durham Police Department says the Amtrak train accident happened behind a Kroger grocery store at 3457 Hillsborough Road. Both husband and wife were pronounced dead at the scene.

The Amtrak train was at a standstill for two hours and 43 minutes after the train killed the husband and wife. No injuries occurred to any of the passengers, although medical support was required for one passenger who complained of chest pains related to a stabbing wound he had received in the previous week.

One man named James Thompson says he saw the married couple a week before the train killed the husband and wife. It is believed the Lowes may have lived in a homeless camp located on the opposite side of the tracks from the Kroger grocery store.

“The last encounter I had with the man and woman was they had a grocery cart and they had a few items in it,” Thompson said, according to ABC 11. “They asked me would I use my truck to go over there because crossing the railroad tracks was so bad, and so hard with the cart.”

Thompson says he met the married couple while collecting scrap metal, and they often asked for help.

“They’ll come up to me and want me to give them a little something,” he said. “When you see a person that’s in dire straits, be kind to them. Don’t condemn them. They’ve got a heart.”

Police are uncertain why Derek and Tina Lowe were on the train tracks. According to WRAL, investigators said that it appears there was a struggle on the train tracks since one person was sitting on the tracks while the other was trying to pull them both to safety. It is also uncertain why the married couple was sitting on the train tracks in the first place.

[Image via WRAL]