Driver calls supervisor from car hit by train in Conover

CONOVER, N.C. — A Conover man is recovering at the hospital Thursday after the car he was in was struck by a train.

It happened at the Southern Furniture crossing where a man was killed less than a year ago.

Police said the train was going 41 mph when it stuck that car in Conover. By the time it stopped, it was several hundred yards down the tracks.

Police said the driver, Arthur Hoff, never stopped and pulled into the path of the train while leaving work.

His supervisor heard the crash and then got a phone call from Hoff still inside the vehicle.

"He said 'I've been hit by the train.' I heard the noise from the building and so I come on up here and told him not to move. He was amazingly in very good shape,” supervisor Kevin Johnson said.

There aren't crossing arms and police said they have responded to other crashes like this one in 2013 when another worker died after being struck by a train.

Investigators said it is up to the drivers to come to a full stop and look both ways before going through the crossing.

Sasha Reid lives nearby and says she is very careful at the crossings in the area.

"It's actually pretty scary without the warning arms and that's why you should always stop and look both ways before you cross,” Reid said.

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