[05/07/01] A Tallulah High School student died Sunday from injuries he received when struck by a train.

Brandon Omar Davis, 17, Route 2 Box 79, was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident by Dr. T.A. Neumann, Madison Parish coroner, said Sammie Byrd, chief deputy at the Madison Parish Sheriff’s Department.

Sheriff Larry Cox said the accident happened about 3:15 p.m. on the Lake One Trestle about four miles west of Tallulah.

Davis was with two other boys and a girl, Cox said.

“Two of the boys and the girl were jumping from the trestle into the lake, but Davis was not,” the sheriff said.

Davis, one of the other boys and the girl were on the trestle when they noticed a Kansas City Southern approaching from the west. They began trying to outrun the train and get off the bridge, but Davis was unable to make it.

He was thrown more than 30 feet from the estimated point of impact.

“He was 20 feet from the end of the trestle and safety when he was hit,” Cox said.

Sarah White, a secretary at Tallulah High School where Davis was a senior, described him as “a good kid.”

She said he and the classmates had been in school together since kindergarten.

“He might not have been the best student, but he was the best friend to everyone,” White said. “He was always trying to make people laugh.”

White said counselors and local ministers were at the school this morning.

“This was a terrible tragedy for them. They are taking it real hard,” White said.