New Jersey dentist killed by train in Port Kent

<a href="mailto:avanvalkenburg@pressrepublican.com">By ANDREA VanVALKENBURG</a>
Staff Writer

April 30, 2009 09:37 pm

— PORT KENT — A New Jersey dentist was killed Thursday afternoon when an Amtrak train full of passengers hit him as he fished off railroad tracks here.
State Police said Dr. William Bodnar was fishing off a small bridge over the Ausable River around 2 p.m. when the southbound Amtrak Montrealer train approached the Lakeside Road crossing about a half-mile away.
Witnesses told police they heard the train coming toward the bridge and yelled for Bodnar to jump into the nearby water.
But the 62-year-old vacationer didn’t move from the trestle and was struck by the train’s engine.
He was killed upon impact.
The train was carrying 80 passengers and four crew members. No one in the five passenger cars was injured.
The accident brought State Police troopers and investigators, along with Canadian-Pacific Railway police, to the area for several hours and delayed the train’s travel until about 5 p.m.
Clinton County Coroner David Donah, along with Keeseville and CVPH Medical Center emergency-medical personnel, also responded to the accident.
Bodnar had been vacationing in the area when he headed out for an afternoon fishing excursion.
Police said an autopsy will be conducted at a later date.
The train was heading downstate from its earlier stop in Plattsburgh and continued its route after the accident.

E-mail Andrea VanValkenburg at:
avanvalkenburg@pressrepublican.com

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