New Iberia native Shawn D. Robicheaux, 36, was killed by an Amtrack passenger train Friday afternoon in Broussard.

Robicheaux was headed southbound on South Eola Road as the railroad crossing arms came down for a train headed west, towards Lafayette, said Chief Brannon Decou of the Broussard Police Department. Robicheaux attempted to out-drive the Amtrack train, which was carrying 68 passengers, and it hit his car, a silver Nissan pickup. The impact threw his truck “a far distance.” The truck then struck a nearby pole and overturned.

Robicheaux was trapped in his truck and pronounced dead on the scene.

Advertisement

Robicheaux’s nieces Jazzi Hebert and Heather Dejesus describe him as a “clown” that sent family members “I love you” texts from Texas, where he worked at Baylor Hospital as a respiratory therapist.

“He laughed a lot,” said Hebert. “He gave the best advice. He always made sure everybody was OK. He’d give you the shirt off his back.”

Hebert said Robicheaux, who was home for Thanksgiving, also liked to be outdoors and being with family. “He was a big family person,” she said.

She said Robicheaux had one son, Shawn Robicheaux, Jr., who is in his early teens.

Decou said Robicheaux “did not appear to have been restrained by a seat belt” and alcohol involvement will not be determined for at least a couple of weeks.

Accidents at railroad crossings do not happen with frequency, said Decou, but have “definitely happened.”

People “need to obey all the crossing signals, whether they have arms, or lights, or (nothing) — they need to stop at all railroad crossings when a train is approaching for sure,” said Decou.