Train hits, kills man in Utah County

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A train in Utah County hit and killed a man Sunday.

Brent Hall, a 27-year-old Price man with the mental capacity of about a 5-year-old, was fishing with his caretaker along the Price River, said Utah County Sheriff's Sgt. Spencer Cannon.

They were at a spot where the river goes under U.S. Highway 6 at mile marker 218 when he said he was going back to their vehicle, Cannon said.

The river runs adjacent to the Union Pacific railroad tracks. A three-engine train came around the bend and struck Hall about 6:25 p.m. before Hall could move out of the way, Cannon said.

The train was not pulling any cars. It just finished helping another train over Solder Summit and was en route back to Price, according to the sheriff's office.

The caretaker gained custody of Hall from his family about 10 years ago.

"He was just brokenhearted," Cannon said. Hard as it was for him to get the words out, the caretaker related to the sheriff's office that they had gone fishing along the river hundreds of times, usually at a spot near Scofield, but they thought to try someplace new on Sunday, Cannon said.

"It was a really tender connection that this guy and his wife had with [Hall]," Cannon added.

mmcfall@sltrib.com

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