January 20, 2015

"Reality TV star hit by train was going for action shot, friends say."

Gregory Plitt's girlfriend said: "He wanted to push things to the limit. He's just like Superman."

51 comments:

rhhardin said...

The news is that there's a train somewhere that goes over 25 miles an hour.

madAsHell said...

Reality TV is about the stupidity.

Rumpletweezer said...

Even though I tend to shy away from criticism of the dead, this seems like a really, really stupid way to die.

Larry J said...

One thing about pushing things to the limit is that you often don't know your limits. In aviation, there's a saying that "Judgment comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgment."

He showed very bad judgment and paid dearly for the experience. A rule that has always served me well through decades of driving and flying is "yield to the vehicle with the greater kinetic energy."

Trains win, every time.

Jim said...

Uh, no, Superman was more powerful than a locomotive.

richlb said...

He's NOT QUITE like Superman.

lgv said...

"He just made a mistake," his friend Warren Coulter said Monday.

Yup. I prefer to avoid situations where my mistakes result in my death since I tend to make lots of mistakes.

Unknown said...

It's always bad when people can laugh at the way you died. I know when I worked at the ER we laughed at the man whose wife brought him in, and he was bleeding from having stuck his penis in the vacuum cleaner. It was a newer model than he normally used. He was taken up to surgery, while we heartlessly laughed. It sort of brightened up our day.

MayBee said...

An AD was killed by a train about a year and a half ago when the production company didn't have a permit to film but they "needed" the shot.

People are just so stupid about trains. How can you not be scared just being near the tracks?

Original Mike said...

Must have been a Kryptonite locomotive.

tim in vermont said...

Hopefully he had no children so his DNA is good and dead.

Known Unknown said...

FASTER THAN A SPEEDING BULLET
NOT STRONGER THAN A LOCOMOTIVE.
Oh well ...

Wince said...

I was about 4 years old in my mother's car when we became trapped in the space between two sets of two rail road tracks by the RR gates on both sides.

The assholes driving the train literally stopped and back-up the locomotive to hang out from the stair rails and mock us, still trapped by the RR gates.

People really weren't all nicer "back in the day". Railroad engineers and hippies were some of my least favorite people.

Now that I think about it we should have sued for false imprisonment and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

traditionalguy said...

Does this mean Superman was not real?

I am depressed.

cubanbob said...

The camera crew didn't notice the train was rapidly approaching and warn him to get out of the way?

I'm sorry the guy is dead but honestly he died a needless and foolish death.

traditionalguy said...

Since steam engines and trains were first used in England they have been used by writers as a symbol of god like death machines that have no match.

YoungHegelian said...

One of my FB friends was a business coach for this guy, and so my FB feed is getting hit hard & heavy by messages of condolence for this guy.

It really is bad form to say anything untoward to the bereaved, but just between us girls here --- oy! playing with trains is a dangerous business!

tim maguire said...

"He's just like [someone who watched] Superman [on TV]," said his girlfriend.

Ruth Anne Adams said...

Dumb ways to die.

Chuck said...

It's hard to imagine having so much fun with the word "locomotive."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2l4bz1FT8U

khesanh0802 said...

I don't understand this. He didn't see, hear, feel the train coming? His buddies didn't drag him off the track? WTF?!? Drugs? Alcohol? A death wish?

Guildofcannonballs said...

Well his friends can never watch O Brother Where Art Thou? again without some uncomfortable moments.

Amichel said...

Trains are very fast, and deceptively so. It's hard for your brain to accurately gauge how something so big can be moving that fast. It's easy to think it's just crawling along, then suddenly it's right next to you, barreling by at 75 mph. Poor guy.

Bob Boyd said...

He died doing what he loved which was getting attention.

jacksonjay said...

Coulter said his friend had a fearless attitude toward life and that "there was nothing he couldn't do."

William said...

It is fitting and sweet to die for a reality television show.

Marc in Eugene said...

The television news reporter in the video clip is an idiot, too. Those tracks... beware of killer tracks! But requiescat in pace.

Anonymous said...

He was trying to get pumped up for tonight.

JAORE said...

And now the train engineer has to live with the images of barreling down on and striking that fool. My thoughts are with the engineer.

Larry J said...

jacksonjay said...
Coulter said his friend had a fearless attitude toward life and that "there was nothing he couldn't do."


Apparently, the train would disagree.

I feel sorry for the poor train engineer who has to live with this accident. He did absolutely nothing wrong but a train under his control killed someone. From what I've heard, it's something that a high percentage of all engineers will face during their career. How's that for occupational hazards?

jacksonjay said...

I happened upon a train accident once. Not a pretty site. The driver's head was split wide-open and the passenger didn't have a scratch. You will never "beat" a train.

Ctmom4 said...

Darwin award nominee?

David said...

For a instant he saw the light at the end of the tunnel.

Quaestor said...

EDH wrote: I was about 4 years old in my mother's car when we became trapped in the space between two sets of two rail road tracks by the RR gates on both sides.

Even "back in the day" the barriers didn't come down before the warning gong rang loudly for at least thirty seconds, not to mention the flashing lights. For a car to get trapped on the tracks by the barriers either the crossing malfunctioned, or the driver ignored the warning. Which was it in your case?

Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...

All aboard the soul train...

Anonymous said...

My mom worked for a railroad company, and she said the train engineers involved in these kinds of incidents nearly always suffered severe psychological trauma, and a non-trivial percentage of them committed suicide because of the guilt.
Why do so many people ignore the physics (F=ma)? I worked a summer in a train yard, and a co-worker who caught a glancing blow from behind by a silently drifting locomotive going <5 mph was driven face-first into the ground and suffered a broken arm...an average freight train going 45 mph can take over a mile to stop!
I blame the movie "Footloose" for people's cavalier attitude...

Unknown said...

My grannies house was on a mountain in Virginia with the New River over the back of the mountain down the bluffs, there was a track that ran there and being pre obama there was a high demand for coal. My older brother and a cousin went to the river to fish and on the way back decided to short cut through a tunnel. Of course a train came they ended up waiting out the whole miles long train in an alcove in the tunnel side. Emerged blacker and wiser.

Anonymous said...

TMZ claims Greg Plitt was trying to outrun the train:

Bravo Star Died in Superman Stunt Trying to Outrun Train

Bravo star and fitness instructor Greg Plitt did NOT die from stumbling on a railroad track Saturday ... he was fatally struck by a train after trying to outrun it ... to prove the effectiveness of an energy drink.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... they have reviewed video of the accident and it shows Plitt standing on the tracks as the train barrels toward him. Shortly before the train reaches Plitt he assumes a runners stance and bolts down the track.

The video shows the train closes in on Plitt as he races at breakneck speed, but he loses the battle and the train "clips" him ... throwing him off the track to his death. It happens quickly and after getting struck he disappears from the video.

gspencer said...

It's been my experience that when there's a contest between a train and a car, a train and a bus, a train and a truck (regardless of size), a train and a person,

that the train wins,

every time.

Fritz said...

Shit just got real.

D. B. Light said...

OMG somebody died! Clearly we must ban reality TV before there are any more of these senseless tragedies.

Bobby said...

Greg and I were in the same company at West Point. I hadn't seen or talked to him since a training exercise in 2002- life just took us on different paths- but I was always proud of him for becoming everything that he'd wanted to become. He was a really good guy. RIP.

Ann Althouse said...

Thanks, Bobby.

Joe said...

"He was fearless."

Fear serves a purpose.

RecChief said...

well, not exactly like Superman.

PackerBronco said...

Here lies the body of Danny Macbride,

Raced the train, but only tied.

Clyde said...

Um, no. Superman is more powerful than a locomotive.

I'm sure someone else has already said it, but if not, let me be the first.

Achilles said...

How come our resident "conservatives" don't have any new laws to pass? Obviously this calls for government action. We need to stop gay people from getting married, women from getting abortions, people from smoking pot, people selling "loosies" and all sorts of super important things. Now someone got hit by a train while being stupid. Maybe we should have a special federal SWAT team for every 100 miles of track. Make sure they have some up-armored humvees. And most importantly make sure it is a Federal Agency. Those are the best way to deal with it.

Quaestor said...

TMZ claims Greg Plitt was trying to outrun the train...

I hope this turns out to be another case of TMZ hyperbole. That site isn't known for gold standard accuracy. Just being on the R/W of the tracks when a train is approaching is foolish as well as illegal, but trying to outrun a train is absolute idiocy.

Alex said...

He died doing what he loved, god bless him!

Larry J said...

Joe said...
"He was fearless."

Fear serves a purpose.


When I went through Jump School back in 1975, the last training we received before making our first jump was on how to handle parachute malfunctions. Behind the stage was a big sign that read, "Fear is the Foundation of Safety". Anyone who is truly fearless is dangerous to himself and others around him.