TULSA, Okla. — A BNSF employee and UTU member was killed in a yard accident here Aug. 4 when a vehicle in which she was riding was struck by a flatcar during a hump operation, according to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol and reported by the Tulsa World newspaper.
Deborah Ann Beeler, 39, of Claremore, was pronounced dead at the scene from multiple injuries, reports the newspaper. She was a member of UTU Local 1289 since July 2005.
According to the newspaper report, Beeler was riding a 2010 Kubota RTV that was crossing BNSF’s Cherokee Yard tracks around 2:15 a.m., Aug. 4, when it was hit on the passenger side by the flatcar that was moving by gravity off the hump. She reportedly was pinned in the RTV for two hours before Tulsa Fire Department rescue workers could free her.
Beeler is survived by her husband, Michael, and sons Tyler, 11, and Wyatt, 9.
UTU Local 1289 member Randy Battenfield, 27, who reportedly was operating the RTV, was not injured, according to the newspaper. Battenfield became a UTU member July 1, 35 days prior to the accident.
Beeler is the fifth UTU member killed in an on-duty accident in 2011, and the second in a yard accident.
Related News
- NTS Day 3: Railroad safety improvements driven by member reports
- NTS Day 3: America’s transit safer because of union member efforts
- TD NTS: STB chair and vice chair address officers, assure labor will have input
- TTD president: Labor needs to stick together to maintain progress
- TD National Training Seminar begins; officers train to confidently represent union members
- SMART-TD transit union conducts first Bus/Transit Day on the Hill
- Chairperson ensures that new bus members get what’s owed to them
- LACMTA reconstitutes in-agency police force to protect workers, riders
- Open enrollment for the SMART-TD VLTD and VLIFE plans begins for rail and bus members
- SMART-TD excited to welcome Coaster to its passenger rail/commuter family