By Frank DeLoache
Salisbury Post
CHINA GROVE ó An alert railroad employee had rescue and law enforcement personnel looking for a body along Norfolk Southern railroad tracks late Thursday night.
They found a man lying beside the tracks behind Amvets Post 565, on U.S. 29 South across the road from Porky’s restaurant.
But he was alive, according to a China Grove police officer.
While they were searching for the man, an officer also came across a jaw bone. But when he looked closely, the officer decided the jaw was too small to be human.
Probably a deer, the police officer said.
The officer at the scene said officials didn’t know early this morning whether the man had been hit by a train.
An Emergency Medical Service crew took the man to a local hospital.
The officer said he had no more information about the man or his condition.
A train crew passing through China Grove about 11:30 p.m. Thursday spotted the man lying behind the tracks.
But the man was lying in a wooded area, and his location was not obvious to officers first on the scene.
China Grove firefighters, Rowan County Sheriff’s deputies and the Emergency Medical Service had gathered at the Amvets post around midnight.
They finally found the man and hustled him into an ambulance.