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Malik Cortez Johnson Killed Playing 'Chicken' With A Train

Teen Killed Playing 'Chicken' With Train
Alamy

A teenager in Georgia was fatally struck by a train after what police are calling a game of ‘chicken’, the Associated Press reports.

Malik Cortez Johnson of Rome, Georgia was playing with six friends near train tracks.

"They were laying on the tracks and the last one to get up (before a train came) wasn't chicken," Lt. John Walters of the Rome Police Department told the Rome News-Tribune.

"He didn't jump up quick enough.”

Walters believes Johnson and his friends were drawn to the act by by YouTube clips featuring similar games, according to International Business Times, though he is unsure why the teens decided to play on the tracks.

“If you go on YouTube and type in something like ‘kids playing chicken with a train,’ you get all these videos of ways kids are playing,” Walters said. “Kids have access to everything.”

Rome police are investigating the incident with Norfolk Southern Corp., the company that owns the rail tracks.

The 17-year-old was a former student at Rome Middle School.

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