CLAREMONT — Police have identified a 52-year-old city resident as the pedestrian struck and killed by an Amtrak train roughly a quarter mile south of Claremont Junction on Tuesday evening.
Ralph Lapsley Jr., of Claremont, died at approximately 6 p.m. on Tuesday when he was hit by an Amtrak train traveling from Washington, D.C., to St. Albans, Vt., Claremont Police said.
Surveillance footage from the train and witness accounts suggest that Lapsley’s death “was a tragic accident,” Claremont Police Chief Brent Wilmot said in a phone interview on Friday.
“There was nothing improper about the operation of the locomotive prior to the accident that would raise our concerns,” Wilmot said.
There were no reported injuries to the 53 passengers or crew on board, Amtrak told the Valley News this week.
Wilmot said that Lapsley and another individual, whom he declined to identify, gained access to the tracks from a trail in Claremont’s Moody Park.
Wilmot declined to provide additional details on the circumstances leading up to Lapsley’s death as the investigation remains ongoing.
Claremont Police are working with Amtrak officials on the ongoing investigation into the fatal collision.
A report from the New Hampshire Chief Medical Examiner was not available as of Friday.
