LEAVENWORTH, Wash. — Authorities say BNSF Railway workers escaped using the rail line following a confrontation with a private property owner who fired a rifle toward them.
Chelan County Sheriff Brian Burnett says 44-year-old James Carl Brown was arrested by SWAT officers. He was booked into jail Wednesday on investigation of assault and unlawful imprisonment.
Burnett said four railroad employees were trying to use a private driveway to access a rail construction site north of Leavenworth Tuesday night.
Brown confronted them and told them to it was private property. Authorities say he fired several rounds from his rifle into the ground in front of the workers’ truck.
Burnett says the workers couldn’t leave because the railroad crossing was torn up on one side and they feared for their safety in the other direction.
They radioed a co-worker for help and escaped using a railroad machine on the rail line.