Drunk Man Severs Leg
By Margaret Lyons in News on Jun 29, 2004 3:49PM
Two East Chicago residents thought they were hobos from the 1920s and hitched a ride on a freight train Sunday. Upon jumping off the train, which had slowed to 10 mph outside Valparaiso, one man severed his leg. Oh, yeah--hed been drinking alcohol all day.
Joseph K. Lopez and Daniel L. Crane had been drinking in the Hegewisch area and were heading back to their residences in East Chicago. Via boxcar. The train was moving too fast there, though, so the ever-so-patient stowaways waited until Valpariso. Its not clear yet if they realized that they had been spotted by engineers, and the reason the train was slowing down was so them men could be removed at the LaPorte County station.
Crane jumped first and was uninjured, and Lopez followed but wasnt so lucky. He severed his leg at the knee, although Chicagoist cant quite figure out how. Crane ran a mile to the nearest house to call 911, and rescuers took Lopez and his leg first to Porter Memorial Hospital in Valparaiso and then airlifted him to St. James Hospital in Olympia Fields, Illinois. Police discovered that Crane was wanted in Hammond for marijuana possession, so hes in jail. No word yet on Lopezs leg.