Police: Man arrested after abandoning stolen car on railroad bridge

A Columbus bridge is closed after police said a man parked a stolen car on the railroad tracks and walked away early this morning.

Sgt. Art Sheldon with the Columbus Police Department Patrol Division said officials were called to the scene around midnight after they learned a vehicle was parked on the train trestle bridge near the Dillingham Street Bridge. When they arrived, they noticed an individual had already exited the car and was walking toward Phenix City.

Jeremy Francis, 35, was arrested by the Phenix City Police Department on an outstanding warrant for failure to appear (bringing stolen property into the state).

Sheldon said the white 2015 Ford Taurus was stolen from Hilton Avenue on Monday. Columbus police issued an additional warrant for Francis in connection with the theft.

The front wheel of the car was dangling off the bridge. It was halfway across the bridge just south of the Dillingham Street Bridge and pointed toward Phenix City.

Police worked with the Norfolk Southern railroad company to get the vehicle removed. For safety reasons, the railroad company requested that authorities wait until daylight to get it towed away.

“Last night, our track inspector did not want to attempt to remove the vehicle, because it was so far on the trestle and because of the lighting conditions,” said Rick Harris, the director of corporate communications with Norfolk Southern.

Harris confirmed that the incident didn’t hinder train operations.

“The line is basically used by a shortline that really just takes traffic into Columbus before it interchanges with us, so it has had no effect on our train traffic,” he said.

Photographer Mike Haskey contributed to this report.

This story was originally published October 5, 2016 at 8:37 AM with the headline "Police: Man arrested after abandoning stolen car on railroad bridge."