A 56 year old man from Logan was killed after being struck by a train in Spanish Fork Canyon.
On Nov. 30 at about 1:53 p.m., Utah Valley Dispatch Special Service District received a call from Union Pacific Railroad Dispatch reporting that a man walking on the tracks was hit by a train and killed. This happened where the rail lines run near the highway at approximately mile marker 219 on Highway 6. This location is about 20 miles north of Price.
Stanley Lawrence “Larry” Litizzette was hunting in the area with his son. According to the son, Litizzette was walking on the railroad tracks and was on a railroad bridge that crossed over the Price River. The son reported that his father was struck by the train and thrown into the river. The son retrieved his father from the river and said it was obvious he was deceased.
Litizzette’s body was taken to the medical examiner’s office in Salt Lake City while the investigation continues.
Utah County Sheriff’s public information officer Sergeant Spencer Cannon said that after talking to the son and family, he does not believe this was a suicide. A pending autopsy may provide clues to whether Litizzette died from the fall, drowning or from being hit by the train.
“We may never know exactly why the accident occurred, ” said Sgt. Cannon. “Did he not hear the train coming? Was he worried about the 20 foot drop from the bridge?”
Litizzette was a biology teacher at Mountain Crest High in Hyrum for nearly 30 years. Litizzette was the recipient of the Huntsman Award for Excellence in Education, a statewide honor given to a handful of elementary, middle and high school teachers every year.