Train Strikes and Kills Man Who Drove Around Stop Arms

BECKER TOWNSHIP -- A Chaska man is dead after witnesses say he drove around the stop arms at a Sherburne County railroad crossing and was hit by a train.

The incident happened at about 12:30 p.m. today.

Sheriff's officials say 65-year-old Dennis McKeever was traveling north on County Road 52 when he approached the crossing at Highway 10. Witnesses say the stop arms were down and that McKeever drove around them and was hit by an oncoming freight train.

McKeever was pronounced dead at the scene.

No one else was in the vehicle at the time of the crash, but a propane line at the scene was leaking and had to be shut off by emergency crews.