: Train Accident Victim was Roadside Regular
He was a roadside regular, waiting along Interstate 74 exit ramps for somebody to pass a dollar through a car window.
In fact, Monday afternoon, hours before Thomas Gene Miller was found dead along the railroad tracks in downtown Bettendorf, he was seen panhandling. He had a license to do so.
On June 1, 2005, the 52-year-old followed the city’s rules and applied for a panhandling license. For an address, he wrote, “Homeless.”
Police said Wednesday that they think Miller tried to climb aboard a slow-moving train near Bettendorf City Hall when something went wrong on Memorial Day. A short time later, a train engineer reported seeing what looked like a body lying near the tracks.
One of the man’s legs was severely injured, which led police to conclude the limb had become stuck — probably on an attached ladder.
“He did get dragged, and he did have a severe leg injury,” Police Chief Phil Redington said.
Some of the homeless people in the Quad-Cities regularly use the slow-moving trains to commute from Davenport to Bettendorf, he said. In Davenport, they often gather in camps along the river. Bettendorf has the prime panhandling spots along the interstate.
“We can only assume he might have been going to Davenport for food, but that’s only guesswork on our part,” the chief said.
Little is known about Miller, police said. They contacted a family member, a sister, with news of his death on Wednesday.
A four-sentence news release disclosing Miller’s identity was issued a short time later. It ended: “His death is considered an accident.”
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