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The two men killed by an Amtrak train in Kannapolis on Friday were best friends returning from a two-block trip to a nearby gas station, a relative of one of the men said Saturday.
Britthaven rest-home residents Billy Richardson, 39, and Randy Davis, 52, often walked to the BP station in the evening for sodas and cigarettes, said Brian Richardson, Billy's older brother. Britthaven is an adult-care home for residents with mental or physical disabilities.
Billy Richardson suffered from a neurological disorder that left him unsteady on his feet, and he apparently fell while crossing the railroad tracks, his brother said. Davis appeared to be trying to pull his friend to safety, the train's engineer said.
"Those two were inseparable," Brian Richardson said.
He said his brother frequently walked to the nearby BP gas station in the evenings to buy Mountain Dew and a cigar-type cigarette. When Brian Richardson dropped his brother off at Britthaven after Thanksgiving dinner at his sister's house, he gave him some money for sodas.
Richardson said his sister talked to someone at the station who told her they'd been there just before the accident.
Richardson had the metabolic disorder adrenomyeloneuropathy, or AMN, which has symptoms similar to multiple sclerosis. Davis told one resident he had a tumor in his stomach.
Britthaven administrator April Roberts declined to comment beyond a statement that said, in part, that rest homes "support the rights of competent residents to leave the facility at will."
The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services Web site lists no violations for Britthaven's Kannapolis location, which has 106 beds. It's part of a chain of long-term care facilities based in Kinston.
No one answered the phone at the Kinston headquarters Saturday.
Brian Richardson said his brother was required to sign out when he left the home, but he didn't know if he had signed out on Friday.
Vivian Knox, who visited two of her cousins at Britthaven on Saturday, said some residents aren't allowed to leave and must wear ankle bracelets. Others can leave freely.
"They do a pretty good job supervising people here," Knox said.
But Gene Matlock, who lives near the rest home and across the street from the accident site, said Britthaven residents sometimes knock on neighbors' doors at 3 a.m.
"They wander around here all the time," Matlock said.
Richardson and Davis were struck by the Charlotte-to-Raleigh Amtrak train at 5:58 p.m. Friday, one mile north of the Kannapolis train station. The engineer said he sounded the horn and applied brakes but was unable to stop in time.
An Amtrak spokesperson said none of the train's 100 passengers was injured.
Staff Writer Steve Harrison contributed
