A Dayton man became the city's third train-related fatality this year when he drove around the crossing arms at 11th Avenue in Dayton and a southbound Norfolk Southern train struck his car.

Charles L. Sneed, 71, of Ruth Road in Dayton, was headed east on 11th Avenue in his 1995 Hyundai Elantra. At about 10:25 a.m. Saturday, Sneed stopped at the railroad crossing on 11th Avenue because the lights were flashing and the crossing arms were down, according to Dayton Sergeant Tom Solomon.

Then, for some unknown reason, Sneed proceeded to drive around the lowered crossing arm on the west side of the crossing, according to Jimmy Boyd, who was about a block behind Sneed.

As Sneed's car reached the middle of the crossing, a southbound train struck the Elantra on the driver's side.

"The train struck the car so dead center that it didn't even damage the crossing arms," Solomon said.

After the impact, the train pushed the car, which was straddling the tracks, for six-tenths of a mile, according to Solomon. The train and car stopped near the Second Avenue crossing.

Emergency workers from the Dayton police and fire departments, Rhea County Sheriff's Department-which is directly across the street from where the train stopped-and the Rhea County Rescue Squad responded to the scene.

Members of the Dayton unit of the rescue squad had to cut Sneed's body from the wreckage of his car.

Rhea County Medical Examiner Dr. Beth Cassady pronounced Sneed dead and ruled that death was caused by blunt force trauma to Sneed's head. She did not order an autopsy or blood toxicology because of the nature of the accident and injuries.

The train was traveling below the 50-mile-per-hour speed limit through Dayton, according to Solomon, and evidence from the 11th Avenue crossing indicated the train's engineer engaged the train's emergency braking system just north of the crossing.

The 78-car train was pulled by three locomotives and was headed from Cincinnati to Chattanooga, according to Susan M. Terpay, director of Public Relations for Norfolk Southern. The train was loaded with grain and had a gross weight of 10,000 tons.

All warning systems at the crossing-including crossing gates, lights and bells were functioning at the time of the crash, she said.

This was the third fatality in Dayton involving a train this year, but the first car-train crash in several years, according to Dayton Police.

Robert Lebron Wilkey, 27, of Dayton, was struck and killed by a Norfolk Southern train while walking south on the tracks on Sept. 1, 2003. His body was found behind Charlie Rogers Ford.

Edward L. Bailey, 45, was also struck and killed by a train in the same area of South Dayton on Jan. 28, 2003.

The three miles of railroad track through South Dayton were dubbed the most dangerous section of track in the country when six local residents were struck and killed by trains in that area between February 1996 and August 1997. The incidents had a variety of causes including suicide and intoxication.

John Carpenter can be reached at jcarpenter@xtn.net.