did this guy get hit yeah he's missing a
leg and the other one is all like I
don't know his pants are only hold them
on or what his foot there on this side
part of his leg is on this piece of mess
but he's still alive he's still alive in
a remote area of Western Nevada railroad
workers call the local sheriff's
department to report a dismembered body
lying in the jagged rocks alongside the
tracks the treacherous desert terrain
forces the responding Deputy to ride the
train back to the location of the site
roughly a mile from the nearest highway
when he finds the man miraculously
conscious despite catastrophic injuries
he'll have to do everything in his power
to keep him alive as the sun sets on
this desolate landscape it's early
evening on April 7th 2024 when the
Churchill County Sheriff's Department
receives a call from the train operators
in an outlying area Sheriff's off yes
ma'am hi this is hman with Union Pacific
Railroad I was calling cuz I had a train
crew report a uh individual that's
laying down on our RightWay uh we're not
sure if he's injured of any kind the
train crew thinks they may have seen the
person move and is he laying down on the
tracks or next to them uh next to the
tracks the details are sparse but the
caller provides enough information for
police to begin investigating
unfortunately when Deputy Tai Nelson
arrives at the railroad tracks he
discovers that it will be no simple feat
to actually get to the individual
hey sge can you hear
me yeah did this guy get
hit yeah I'm not sure so I'm at the
railroad crossing and he's saying it's
going to be easier to catch a ride on
the train to where he's at cuz you can't
get to it in the truck if it's if it's
critical let us know so that we can get
care flate perhaps no law enforcement
shift can be considered typical but
riding a train to the scene of the
incident is unusual by any metric
nonetheless Deputy Nelson knows that the
situation is urgent and he's about to
learn that the victim is in even worse
shape than he
realized what's that the re he'll take
time all
righty yeah all the board I'll bring it
back
100 make sure you safe want to get
inside a love more you good here I'm
good here okay yeah he's missing a leg
and the other one is all like I don't
know his pants are only holding them on
or what okay his foot and there stuff on
this side part of his leg is on this a
piece of mess but he's still alive he's
still alive
okay after TR went by and before us and
said that they thought they saw a body
so we check and there's a bag up here in
the right the old
[Music]
the ride back to the scene didn't take
more than 5
minutes yeah see what I mean but I
didn't know how you yeah a quick glance
at the surrounding landscape shows why
it may not be possible to get an
ambulance to the victim I don't know if
they're going to have access or a
landing Zone um I might have to pick
this guy up and put him on the train and
put him uh to where my car
is
Sir Sir can you hear me what's your name
can you tell me your name can you hear
me sir I'm Deputy Nelson can you tell me
your
name huh
okay hearing about the man's injuries
from a witness is one thing seeing the
them up close is quite another It's
Quickly clear to Deputy Nelson that he
must take decisive
measures Deputy Nelson I'm going be
putting a turnit on you
okay what's your name I can't hear you
the man on the ground is barely coherent
and the deputy knows that he needs
emergency medical attention without
delay
did you do you have a phone that you can
get signal yeah can you let them know
I'm Deputy Nelson tell them to get care
fly on standby and get them here now
soon as possible huh1 or what um call
them tell them that you're here with me
and tell them that we're going to need
care flight me to call 911
yeah tell them I have a double
MPT okay
911 what's your emergency hi my name is
Robert Miller with Union Pacific
Railroad I'm here with Deputy Nelson and
he says we need a care flight here
immediately we have a man with double
amput on his legs got hit by a train
okay we have care flight on the way
their ETA isn't until 1953 so we still
have a ways to go holy 1953 yeah they're
coming from
trucky okay from trucky okay should be
there soon though okay uh we'll bring
the train back to the crossing and bring
the medic back to him all right thank
you bye the helicopter is coming from
trucky California which is approximately
80 M west of Churchill County Nevada the
35-minute wait time is a set back but
local EMTs are also on the way the train
heads back to the highway to pick them
up while Deputy Nelson stays with the
double Ute
team can you hear me hey I'm sticking
with you okay stay with me
okay I'm going lift your head up okay
I'm put your head under my BL or my
jacket under you all right is that
better can you hear me yes
sir what's your first name
bird you have ID on you do you have a
wallet or anything
the victim can't quite articulate his
name but that won't prevent the deputy
from providing all the Comfort he can
under the
circumstances all right I'm here with
you okay can you squeeze my
hand good all right don't squeeze hold
off on it squeeze
again all right that's good that's good
all right stay with me
okay I got you and you open your eyes
for
me right that's good it's real good all
right just stick with me okay the man
isn't capable of having a conversation
but the officer does manage to find
something helpful in the nearby
rocks
Victor
okay all right
Victor Nelson okay can call me tight I'm
here for you all right you're going to
be okay all right we're not going to
move you
okay I'm not going to move you because I
don't know if you have any spinal
injuries or anything like that okay no
stop moving just sit here okay I
understand that you're probably in a lot
of pain but I I need you to stay still
okay hey it's
Nelson hey my subject's name is going to
be last of rainolds first of Victor I
don't have a date of
birth he is a he is conscious is barely
alert um barely mumbling he is a
wmpt okay I advise the medic okay um I'm
not going to move him I don't know if he
has any back or spinal injuries he is
breathing though okay all right it's not
clear how aware Victor is of what's
happening around him but it must surely
be a comfort that he's no longer
spending what might have been his final
moments lying alone in the drift of
rocks beside the railroad tracks as for
Nelson he does his best to keep Victor
still while being mindful of his Agony
your back is
hurting all
right you over
okay put this jacket under your back
okay
here all right stay right there here you
going to roll back over I got my jacket
under your back okay if you want to lay
on my jacket all
right stop trying to move Victor I need
to stop me okay I'm not going anywhere
okay we got paramedics on their
way Medics have indeed arrived at the
railroad crossing and they too will have
to ride the train back to the scene of
the grizzly
accident you still squeeze my hand can
you open your hand all the way can you
open your hand all the way
all right squeeze it there you go good
job job Victor all right good job all
right sounds like the train's coming
okay so that means the Medics are
[Music]
coming all right let's s the medic skit
here let's see what we can do and then
we'll go from there all right sound like
a plan
all right cool Medics are
here Deputy Nelson has spent 20 long
Minutes Alone with Victor while waiting
for the EMTs and he's no doubt relieved
to finally have them on the
scene how we doing he's good he's alert
he's uh talking all right for the most
part and we got T kits both both both on
he's able to squeeze my hand he's able
to squeeze both hands um the the other
foot is on the other side of the
tracks wasn't sure what else to do I
wanted to keep them warm so I didn't cut
that
off if not hey hey Victor stay stay
there okay stop moving all right I'm
going to go get okay it's little back to
the uh North
there as one EMT goes in search of
Victor's other foot the deputy
acknowledges that there's much he still
doesn't know about the man
himself no um
he's I'm not getting a lot out of him
not really my priority get out of right
now yeah um I can call dispatch and see
if they found anything but uh I don't
know and I can't tell from that did
I too about
it glasses and stuff okay I don't know
if there's a wallet if there is and it's
tied with the fet
but no worries all right they stay
focused on the goal of keeping Victor
alive but many Mysteries surround the
man in their care and indeed many more
will come to the surface before this
night is over you need to roll
over we need to stand like this okay
we're going to get some uh NIV in you
okay I need you to stay as still as
possible
still with me
Victor the side of these modern medical
devices against the backdrop of this
Barren desert only highlights the
urgency of getting Victor to the
hospital the question is how are they
going to do
[Music]
that on the stretcher huh we putting
them on the stretcher and taking them
over it's going be a blanket I got
him eyes are still opening hands are
moving neither Deputy Nelson nor the EMT
can disguise their doubts about that
Prospect but there is hope on the
horizon as the careflight helicopter
finally arrives on the scene it looks
like he's going up to the crossing we
might go up there and try to get his
attention he didn't see us as he went by
huh sure he saw you I don't know yeah
he's probably trying to find a land just
trying to find a place to land that's
safe
yeah we might arm right
there there
go yeah I just need to keep the arm
straight hey Victor keep your arm
straight right there okay don't move
it hoping for a break the deputy surveys
the area for an acceptable place where
where the helicopter could
land
sucks one thing's for sure with the sun
going down on the Nevada desert the
conditions out here aren't getting any
better
there Nelson careful I landed on 95 near
the
ambulance okay okay
um there's a possible landing spot kind
of where we're at but I don't know if
they're okay with Landing
there okay we're not going to be able to
get this guy onto the train
though okay so
we're going to get him back can't land
okay all right we'll do with what we can
by
bye they landed by you
guys that's a mile up the road the lack
of good options forces Deputy Nelson to
prepare for what will be an extremely
grueling task you guys are down with
it I'm willing to take I carry him
as far as I can take breaks yeah we
don't have a
choice it is what it is let's do it all
right
all blanket here um yeah try to see if
we can get the blanket kind of around no
one can pretend that this will be
anything other than a tough Journey but
they are willing to do what they must to
save Victor's life fortunately it won't
come to that
can I get the uh flashlight let see if I
can go more
[Music]
all right Vector I need you to roll
towards Deputy over here all right a boy
all
right hold lot not a whole
lot yeah all right so we're our plan is
to use a blanket as kind of a a just a
sheet and just drag them up to the yeah
it's kind of the plan do you guys want
to take his limbs with you now or do you
want to come back for him no and a n
filled with unpleasant questions this
won't be the last what do it deal with
the dog in the backpack I have no idea
Jesus Christ I haven't established that
part yet fa enough think
so Deputy Nelson arrived at the railroad
tracks that evening with very little
information knowing only that it was a
welfare check on a quote male subject
laying down next to the railroad tracks
and possibly a backpack with a deceased
dog inside police take Victor's backpack
from the scene and photograph it but
there's no further explanation of its
origin or its unsettling
contents app thank you for landing here
oh man you should take back on the no uh
you know I don't think that would have
been those are some steep
steps Victor's lonely nightmare by the
railroad tracks is finally over and now
it's time for Deputy Nelson and the EMTs
to climb those steps one final time for
the ride
back want water not at the moment thank
you though sure okay cor hydrated or
dydrate
thank
you what a start T
night yeah the night may still be young
but it's not one that Deputy Nelson is
likely to forget nor is he quite done
there are still many unanswered
questions about what exactly happened
here unfortunately finding those answers
won't be easy the Union Pacific guy
who's on the train told me that it was
possibly two trains before him um stated
that there was an amtr train that had
noticed the guy on the side of the
tracks and they reported to Union
Pacific and then Union Pacific called
us so he was assuming that it was the
train before Amtrak my my guess is that
this guy probably was somewhere in the
contest of the train and jumped off or
fell off or something so probably won't
have any images of it but um they'll be
able to tell you which which train it
was unfortunately narrowing down the
correct train may be even more difficult
than that I've had stuff like this where
um somebody got their light cut off and
they were there for a solid 24
hours trains went by and nobody saw them
so this could be something completely
different than what we're all thinking
so um just just a suggestion if if this
is something where maybe you could talk
to tomorrow get more info it probably
save you a lot of spend wheel okay the
idea that Victor might have suffered
that long without assistance is nearly
Unthinkable and unfortunately the police
report does not provide a definitive
answer as to when he was struck he was
transported by careflight to Reno Nevada
thus bringing Churchill County's
involvement in the case to an end on May
1st 2024 roughly 3 weeks after the
incident Sheriff Richard Hicks presented
Deputy Tai Nelson with a letter of
commendation for the quote compassion
empathy care and professionalism
displayed on that unusual call for
service interestingly Deputy Nelson had
joined the forces only a few months ago
before the incident and had already
shown such
courage unfortunately while several
Facebook users asked about the victim's
survival the Sheriff's Office did not
respond there's been no update as of yet
on the status of Victor Reynolds