A woman was killed Thursday when she was struck by a train in Wayne County during the filming of a movie about Gregg Allman.
According to Wayne County Sheriff’s Department Investigator Joe Gardner, emergency personnel responded around 4:30 p.m. to a report that a train had struck a person at the Doctertown Road railroad trestle on property behind Rayonier Timber Mill.
He said they discovered that one female film crew member had been killed and seven other people injured. The woman who was killed has been identified as 27-year-old Samantha Elizabeth Jones of Atlanta, according to the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office.
Of the seven others injured, Gardner said two were seriously injured and taken to hospitals. One woman was flown to Memorial Medical University Center in Savannah.
Gardner said the production crew with Meddin Studios out of Savannah had gotten permission from CSX Railroad and Rayonier to be in the area to work on a film about the former Allman Brothers band member who now lives in Richmond Hill. Called “Midnight Rider,” the movie is being produced for Open Roads Film.
The detective said he could not confirm if the crew had permission to be on the trestle.
According to reports, the crew had placed a bed across tracks on the trestle to film a dream sequence, and as the train approached it sounded a whistle, but the crew had less than a minute to get off the track.
Gardner could not confirm these details, but he said a prop of some kind had been on the tracks and that a mattress was found in the area.
Other reports also said movie’s director, Randall Miller, fell on the track as he ran, but was pulled to safety.
Gardner said the freight train was coming from Memphis, Tenn., and headed to Savannah. He did not know the condition of all who had been injured and said that as a precaution the incident is being investigated as a homicide.