A veteran Texas law enforcement officer died after the vehicle he was driving was struck by a train near Kingsville Wednesday morning.
Ken Starrs, the assistant commander of the South Texas Specialized Crimes and Narcotics Taskforce, was en route to his office around 7:30 a.m. on County Road 2140 beyond the railroad tracks on Highway 77 when the train struck his pickup, according to The Corpus Christi Caller-Times.
Sgt. Nathan Brandley said that the 65-year-old was crossing a set of railroad tracks that run parallel to the highway and was struck by a Union Pacific train. The intersection does not have railroad crossing arms.
Jeff DeGraff, director of corporate relations and media with Union Pacific, told the newspaper that the train was mainly empty with only five cars containing cargo. He was unsure of how fast the train was going at the time of the collision
The incident is being investigated by the Texas Department of Public Safety and Union Pacific is conducting its own investigation.
Before working with the taskforce, Starrs served with the Corpus Christi Police Department from 1977 until his retirement in 2004. He retired as a captain and later worked for the Port of Corpus Christi police. His wife, Karen, also worked at the Corpus Christi Police Department as a crime prevention specialist until 2003.
In lieu of flowers, Karen Starrs requested donations to Corpus Christi's Fraternal Order of Police Shop with a Cop, P.O. Box 440, Corpus Christi, TX 78403.
Funeral arrangements are pending.
