Middletown man survives overdose on tracks as train passes over him

Credit: DaytonDailyNews

Emergency crews say a Middletown man who overdosed is lucky to be alive after he fell onto nearby railroad tracks.

When Jesse O’Neill, 46, allegedly overdosed Friday night, he fell onto the railroad tracks near University Boulevard, fire officials said. O’Neill fell between the tracks, and he wasn’t hit when a Norfolk-Southern train passed over him around 8:30 p.m., officials said.

He was revived after Middletown paramedics gave him five milligrams of Narcan, according to Middletown Division of Police report. He was taken to Atrium Medical Center.

O’Neill told officers and paramedics he snorted heroin after he got into an argument with his live-in girlfriend. He told police he didn’t remember passing out nor the training passing over him.

The conductor told police he saw the man lying between the tracks, and by the time he stopped the train, 26 rail cars had passed over the man.

The train was stopped between 30 and 45 minutes and blocked four city intersections: University and Manchester, Central and University, First and University, and Grand Avenue and University, the report stated.

O’Neill was charged with disorderly conduct, criminal trespass and inducing panic.

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