A Portland man was arrested Friday after the stolen pickup he was driving got stuck on a railway crossing near Wintler Park in Vancouver and was hit by a train, Vancouver police spokeswoman Kim Kapp said.
Brandon J. Fulps, 22, of Portland allegedly tried to drive a Ford F-250 around the crossing while the gate was down and emergency lights were flashing. A westbound coal train heading to British Columbia had just cleared the tracks near the Southwest Beach Drive entrance to the waterfront park in Vancouver’s Riverview neighborhood.
The pickup got stuck on the tracks and didn’t make it over the crossing. Fulps reportedly got out of the pickup before it was hit by an eastbound freight train heading to Chicago.
Fulps traveled east along the tracks and was later found by Vancouver police in the 6500 block of Buena Vista Drive on the north side of state Highway 14. Witnesses positively identified him as the man who fled the pickup, which was previously reported as stolen out of Vancouver, Kapp said.
Fulps was booked into the Clark County Jail on Friday on suspicion of possessing a stolen vehicle.
