Train kills man who never moved off Gaffney tracks

GAFFNEY, S.C. (AP) — Authorities say a man walking with a cane down the middle of the tracks in Gaffney has been hit and killed by an Amtrak train.

Cherokee County Coroner Dennis Fowler said the train engineer blew the warning horn repeatedly around 12:15 a.m. Saturday, but 53-year-old Rickey Studyvance didn’t get out of the way.

Authorities say the Amtrak train was heading from Greenville to Charlotte, N.C., with 216 passengers on board and was delayed for more than two hours. No one on the train was injured.

Fowler says alcohol appears to have contributed to Studyvance’s death.