Fundraisers launched for family of Polish jogger killed by train

Przemyslaw Wachta came to Windsor to improve life for his family.

The 39-year-old Polish man’s hopes ended less than a year after he arrived when the fitness fan was killed Feb. 3 by a train while on his daily jog.

“Nobody can believe this happened, especially knowing his personality, that he was very careful and neat and very particular about living his life carefully, because of his family back home,” his friend and co-worker Pawel Siuda said Saturday.

“Everyone is shocked.” Siuda was the first of eight men from the same town, Mielec — with a population of 62,000 in southern Poland — who came to Windsor to work in the tool-and-die industry. His buddy Wachta arrived March 17, 2017, and soon began working with him at Saturn Tool & Die in Oldcastle.

Wachta wanted to earn a little more money to send to his family in Poland. Now his wife and children just want to bring his remains back home.

A GoFundMe campaign has been started by a Polish-Canadian friend with the goal of raising $10,000 to help his family with expenses. Wachta leaves behind his wife Monika, his son Kamil, 18, his son Kornel, 14, and his daughter Pola, 6. Siuda said news of the loss hit Wachta’s family hard. His wife was even hospitalized from shock and grief.

Meanwhile, members of the local Polish community are trying to make sense of what happened.

Police say Wachta slipped past flashing railway signals and a safety arm before being hit by a train around 6:30 p.m. at the tracks at Jefferson Boulevard and South Service Road East.

Witnesses told police he was jogging by a stopped train, crossed between cars, and was hit and killed instantly by a passing eastbound train as he exited the other side.

Investigators said he may have been wearing headphones and might not have heard the train.

“It’s so sad,” Malgorzata Holec, vice-president of the Polish Club of Windsor, said while sitting around reminiscing with Wachta’s Windsor friends. “The guys are devastated because he was one of them. They’re part of a big family. They help each other and tell each other what they need to know about living in Canada.

“They’re going through a wave of emotions.”

They all remembered Wachta not only as someone who cared about his own health — he was an avid swimmer, hiker, outdoorsman and jogger who routinely ran for an hour at a time — but someone concerned about his family. And others.

“He was very friendly, very helpful,” Siuda said. “He was always ready to help others who needed him. He never asked any questions. If someone needed help he would just give a hand.”

Now the Windsor Polish community wants to return the favour. Besides the GoFundMe campaign, his friends plan to hold a memorial fundraising dinner for Wachta and send the money to his family in Poland. The date is not set yet, but the memorial will be held at Dom Polski, otherwise known as the Polish House at 1275 Langlois Ave., a converted old home which has served as the social centre of the local Polish community for almost 100 years.

For more information on the fundraising dinner for Przemyslaw Wachta, call the Polish Club of Windsor at 519-253-2708.

He was always ready to help others who needed him. He never asked any questions.