Video Recorded Bodybuilder Plitt Running Alongside Railroad Before Fatal Impact

No permits had been issued for filming along the train tracks, according to a MetroLink spokesman.

Moments before the fatal impact, fitness guru and actor Greg Plitt was running alongside the railroad tracks as a MetroLink train approached from behind, according to an individual who has seen a security camera video recording.

"He was deff running either between the rails or just on the outside," wrote James A. Brown in the comment section of an NBCLA article on the outpouring of grief in response to Plitt's death.
 
Whether Plitt tripped on the rocky, uneven roadbed, or simply veered too close to the tracks, was not clear on the low resolution video, said Brown.
 
Plitt did not respond to a horn blast from the train, according to Burbank Police. He and two others were involved in a video shoot Saturday afternoon, police said Sunday. Neither of the two has commented publicly on the scenario for the shoot, nor on a report it was to be a promotional video for a sports drink.
 

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Plitt and the others had sporadically come into the view of the security camera during the two hours prior to the fatal accident, according to Brown. 
 
Arrangements had not been made for a traffic stop and other safety requirements for video production on a railroad right of way, according to Scott Johnson, spokesman for Metrolink, which owns and operates the stretch of railroad just north of the Burbank Metrolink station.
 
Videos posted on Plitt's website attest to previous video shoots on that same stretch of tracks just north of the Burbank Metrolink station. Plitt lived in Burbank.
 
A graduate of the West Point Military Academy who served in the Army Rangers, the Maryland native gravitated to body building and moved to Southern California when he returned to civilian life. He built a personal brand that included inspirational coaching, modeling and acting. He appeared in the Stallone-DeNiro film "Gudge Match," and more recently recorded yet-to-be aired segments of the Bravo reality program "Friends to Lovers."
 
Plitt was a sponsored athlete of the Met-Rx nutritional supplement company and served as a spokesman. 
 
He stocked his website with an ever-expanding collection of videos chronicling his real-life athletic exploits.
 
"Everything had to be spectacular. I mean, he was a perfectionist," said CB Harding, a director/producer who considered Plitt a friend and was working with him to develop a new reality show project.
 
"He was the real deal," said Harding's wife Louise. "He went at life just full on."
 
Why he returned to shoot videos on the railroad tracks, the Hardings could not say.
 
"I don't honestly know what was the attraction," said CB Harding.
 
"A mistake was made," said another Plitt friend, Warren Coulter.  "A simple, horrible, horrible, tragic mistake."
 
Meeting Plitt made an impression, with his striking looks, ripped physique, and boundless energy and enthusiasm.  "People were stunned by him," said Mike Ewing, the film producer and Plitt friend who also helped him bring to market a new fitness tool called the Metaball.
 
"His dream was to be able to move on to do more acting," said Ewing.
 
An animal lover who adopted dogs, Plitt was a supporter of the Linda Blair Worldheart Foundation, said Coulter.
 
A public memorial service is being planned.
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