March 15, 2006, 11:11AM Miss Deaf Texas killed by train
Associated Press http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/3725173.html AUSTIN The reigning Miss Deaf Texas who was killed by a train was text messaging her parents and friends on her cell phone as she walked near the tracks and might have been distracted, police said. Tara McAvoy, 18, was walking about a foot away from Union Pacific railroad tracks. She had typed a message to her parents, both of whom are hearing-impaired, letting them know she was walking along the tracks from home to her mother's workplace on Monday. A few minutes later, McAvoy was struck by the snowplow on the front of a 65-car Union Pacific train, which authorities said extended 16 inches on both sides of the tracks. She died at the scene. "As the train approached, they sounded the horn and got no response," Austin police Detective David Fugitt told the Austin American-Statesman. "They activated the emergency brakes but were unable to stop in time." Fugitt said he is not sure whether McAvoy would have felt vibrations from the train. The train was hauling a fleet of cars from Mexico to St. Louis. McAvoy graduated from the Texas School for the Deaf in 2005 and won the state pageant in June. She was scheduled to compete in the national pageant in California this year. She had been a cheerleader, a basketball player and an honor roll student at the Texas School for the Deaf. ================================ George Antunes, Political Science Dept University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204 Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927 antunes at uh dot edu Reply with a "Thank you" if you liked this post. _____________________________ MEDIANEWS mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
