Chattanooga police walked a stretch of railroad tracks between Hixson Pike and Hamill Road on Friday evening searching for a pedestrian believed to be hit by a southbound train.
Investigators believe the Norfolk Southern train hit a male pedestrian near the 5200 block of Hixson Pike just before 6:18 p.m. Friday, according to Officer Rebecca Royval, spokeswoman for the Chattanooga Police Department.
Officers blocked off the portion of tracks crossing Hamill Road near Highway 153 in Hixson, where the train had come to a stop.
Just before police received the call from Norfolk Southern about the accident, they were told of a fight involving four juveniles who fled the scene from the Books-A-Million at 5230 Highway 153, Officer Royval said.
"We're not sure these two calls are related," she said at the scene Friday. "But they did take off running in this direction."
Officer Royval said police are questioning "a couple of the juveniles" involved in the fight to find out if one could be the pedestrian who was struck.
Chattanooga firefighters and police officers searched the area, but only could come up with a hat and some blood spatter on the train, Officer Royval said. The train's engineer told police he saw a victim lying between the two train tracks, but officers and a K-9 unit had not located a body by press time Friday.
"We hoped that we could find the victim before it turned dark," she said. "But that didn't happen."
Officer Royval said investigators believe the pedestrian was not hit straight on, but rather took a "glancing blow."
"It is possible that his injuries weren't too extensive, that he walked away," she said.