Another tragic mistake.

[ChrisBARailfan]

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/13071032.htm

Mother charged after girl loses arm going under stopped train

Associated Press


SCOTT CITY, Mo. - A woman has been charged with child endangerment after her daughter's arm was severed when a train that had stopped lurched forward as she and her boyfriend led the girl and two other children under it, Scott City police said.

The accident happened Sunday afternoon in Scott City, a community just south of Cape Girardeau in southeastern Missouri. The southbound Union Pacific train had been stopped on the tracks, waiting for a northbound train to pass.

The injured child, Mikala Morrow, 7, is in the pediatric intensive care unit at St. Louis Childrens Hospital, and family members said she was to have surgery on Thursday to repair her shoulder.

Her mother, Glenda Ross, 34, of Scott City, has been charged with three felony counts of child endangerment. She was at the hospital with her daughter and won't be arrested until the child has had more time to recover, Scott City Police Chief Don Cobb said.

"For the good of the child, we are prepared to wait," Cobb said Wednesday. The warrant issued for Ross on Tuesday specifies a $75,000 bond for release after her arrest.

Daniel Ross, father of Glenda, said Mikala and another daughter were on a regular weekend visit with their mother in Scott City. He said they live in Benton with their father, Timothy Morrow, during the week.

According to police and family members, Glenda Ross, her boyfriend, the two daughters and another child Ross was babysitting for left the home and for some reason decided to go onto the railroad property and cross the tracks rather than use an overpass located about 180 yards from the point where the accident took place. The overpass is the only point in the city allowing north-south access when trains are stopped on the tracks.

Cobb said everyone but Mikala had made it through when the train began to move.

"The overpass has shoulders that are six feet wide to accommodate pedestrians," Cobb said. "Why they didn't walk down the Second Street overpass, I have no idea. I had a lot of questions about how this thing happened the way it did and I don't have a lot of good answers."

Daniel Ross said he didn't understand why his daughter's boyfriend, who he said was the first to cross the tracks, had not been charged as well. Cobb said the decision on charges was up to Paul Boyd, the Scott County prosecutor.

"The prosecutor goes where the facts take him," Cobb said. "He didn't feel charges were warranted against the boyfriend."

Mark Davis, a Union Pacific spokesman, said members of the train crew were unaware of the accident until they were down the track and told to stop.

"This tragic incident is not only very hard on the family but the train crew as well, to later on find out that they injured a juvenile and did not even know it," Davis said. "It is one of the most heart-wrenching experiences a train crew can go through."

Another tragic error in judgement leads to heartache and pain for many. I will pray for the girl and the crew and hope the mother gets some time for what she did to her daughter.

[chad thomas]

I think the boyfriend should be charged too. And stories like this should be front page news so more people hear about the dangers of screwing around on RR property.

[tree68]

But.... It can't happen to ME!

[emd_SD_60]

QUOTE: Originally posted by ChrisBARailfan
According to police and family members, Glenda Ross, her boyfriend, the two daughters and another child Ross was babysitting for left the home and for some reason decided to go onto the railroad property and cross the tracks rather than use an overpass located about 180 yards from the point where the accident took place. The overpass is the only point in the city allowing north-south access when trains are stopped on the tracks.

[:(!][:(!]Then this retard should have gotten off her fat redneck a** and walked the 180 yards over to the overpass![:(!] This b***h is living proof some people are severely incompetent of caring for children...[:(!] Like UPTRAIN told me, I'd gladly throw her under a hotshot Z train doing 70 for her lack of a brain! ;)]

[emd_SD_60]

And oh yeah, they need to throw her in the pokey PRONTO. The idea of waiting for the child to get better until they do is utter BS...[:(!] There's too many PC pigs (cops) out there... gotta keep the enemy free for the benefit of the children.[:(!]

[bbrant]

Why in the world would you take such a risk, especially with children? I could never do something so dumb let along coax my daughters into doing the same thing! Some people just don't get it. Sad part is that the safe way to cross the tracks was only a short distance away and this freak chose to do something completely stupid! I don't understand the thinking of some people.

Brian

[CSXrules4eva]

This woman made a costly judgement call. Personally, her judgement wasn't all that great to begin with. Maybe this person dosen't have any common sence or something. In no way should anyone crawl under a train for any reason. She didn't stop to think that maybe the train wasn't at idle, and if it was she didn't think that the train was bound to move sometime? She doesn't know the sechedule of that particulary train at that moment. I also really don't understand what they were doing on railroad property anyway. Some people just need help sometimes.

Well, my thoughts and prayers go out to all those who were involved and all those who got hurt. God Bless.

[Anonymous]

I was almost witness to the same exact thing with a train I was working on in Indianapolis. I had to set off the rear Kansas City block of my train east of the yard. My train had to pull ahead over a busy road crossing. With it being rush hour I knew people would be impatient, so as soon as I stopped the train to make the cut I sent the engineer ahead again to clear the crossing and then I would walk back to tie handbrakes. Just as my train was about to move I see this guy sliding his bike under a box car on the crossing and then himself after I had told my engineer I was in the clear. Luckily, someone above was watching out for this idiot because my train went into emergency for an unkown reason. I just don't understand how time can be that important to people where they'd be willing to risk their lives or the lives of others for a few minutes. [V][xx(]

[CANADIANPACIFIC2816]

QUOTE: Originally posted by tree68

But.... It can't happen to ME!

It is indeed EXTREMELY SAD that a lot of people have this kind of attitude. Anyone who would place their own children in danger like this is not fit to be a parent. I hope this DUMB BROAD and her equally DUMB BOYFRIEND get the book thrown at them. The politically correct notion that they should be treated with any leniency is ABSOLUTELY ABSURD!!!!!

Within the last couple hours I had witnessed a young, and obviously STUPID kid climb up over the couplers between a couple covered hoppers on a BNSF siding just a few blocks from where I live. There could very easily have been a couple engines on the other end of the train waiting to pull out of the yard. This NUMBSKULL is ***ED LUCKY that this cut of cars had not started moving. I would have chased him down and chewed his sorry butt out, but that would have involved walking eight or nine cars back in the direction from which I had come to get to the other side of this cut of cars, and I didn't have time for that. I needed to be somewhere else.

CANADADIANPACIFIC2816

[BaltACD]

My sympathies to the girl.....the mother and boyfriend shoud get to place thier necks on the rail under a train and wait.....and wait.....and wait....and wonder when it is going to start moving....AND IT WILL.

Darwin Award candidates, unfortunately endangering the lives of defenseless children, who if they follow the family role models will never become adults.

[Anonymous]

so much anger in you people

[chad thomas]

QUOTE: Originally posted by electro-ortcele

so much anger in you people

Not me.[;)][:D][8D]

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by BaltACD

My sympathies to the girl.....the mother and boyfriend shoud get to place thier necks on the rail under a train and wait.....and wait.....and wait....and wonder when it is going to start moving....AND IT WILL.

Darwin Award candidates, unfortunately endangering the lives of defenseless children, who if they follow the family role models will never become adults.

the child could not have understood the danger and could not calculate or judge the situation, but you are forgetting that many grownups are like that too.
Just because someone is older than 16,18,20, o 30 or whatever doesn't mean he is capable of making intelligent judgements. To use simpler words, many people are plainly stupid. And you can't really blaim someone for being stupid, just like you can't blaim a child for being less aware and intelligent than some (!) grownups

[espeefoamer]

Just recently a teenager walked in front of an Amtrak train in San Juan Capistrano,even though the gates were down and the crossing bells were operating. His friend tried to grab him but coudn't get him off the tracks.This was his last mistake.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by chad thomas

QUOTE: Originally posted by electro-ortcele

so much anger in you people

Not me.[;)][:D][8D]

Me either.

Getting angy isn't going to fix what happened. Calling people names isn't going to fix what happened. Thinking of appropriate punishment to the (insert name of guilty party here...) isn't going to change what happened.

How about we not bring up crossing accidents any more? The responses are the same over and over again. Or better yet, how about a new forum just for crossing accidents or people going around crossing arms?


mike

[espeefoamer]

The boyfriend should have been charged too,and both should have been thrown in jail immediately[:(!]!

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by mehrlich

QUOTE: Originally posted by chad thomas

QUOTE: Originally posted by electro-ortcele

so much anger in you people

Not me.[;)][:D][8D]

Me either.

Getting angy isn't going to fix what happened. Calling people names isn't going to fix what happened. Thinking of appropriate punishment to the (insert name of guilty party here...) isn't going to change what happened.

How about we not bring up crossing accidents any more? The responses are the same over and over again. Or better yet, how about a new forum just for crossing accidents or people going around crossing arms?


mike

Yea, a child lost its arm,
courts, jails, and all that crap won't get her arm back and won't undo the emotional damage to all that were involved.

Justice in an illusion of making things better. In crimes and accidents there is no way of making things better, all you can do is relieve yourself of your anger by punishing someone.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by espeefoamer

The boyfriend should have been charged too,and both should have been thrown in jail immediately[:(!]!

and how would this help them and the child?

[BaltACD]

QUOTE: Originally posted by electro-ortcele

so much anger in you people

Not anger...I just get tired of straightening out a railroad that has been shut down by the authorities for hours account of this kind of mindless idiot. With 20/30 trains getting ready to go on the Hours of Service and not having either the manpower or the taxi power to get recews to the trains and keep the railroad fluid.

[edblysard]

Yes, I can blame them...it dosnt take any more smarts to know not to crawl under a train than to know not to rollerskate on the freeway...this is beyond stupid.
My 6 year old knows not to go near a train, be it moving or not.
Yes, the childs age does provide her with some excuse, and the fact that Mom told her to do this, but there is no excuse for the parent, and I use that term loosley, to place a child in such a dangerous position.

Now a girl has to spend the rest of her life crippled and maimed, because her mother was lazy....

Ed

QUOTE: Originally posted by electro-ortcele

QUOTE: Originally posted by BaltACD

My sympathies to the girl.....the mother and boyfriend shoud get to place thier necks on the rail under a train and wait.....and wait.....and wait....and wonder when it is going to start moving....AND IT WILL.

Darwin Award candidates, unfortunately endangering the lives of defenseless children, who if they follow the family role models will never become adults.

the child could not have understood the danger and could not calculate or judge the situation, but you are forgetting that many grownups are like that too.
Just because someone is older than 16,18,20, o 30 or whatever doesn't mean he is capable of making intelligent judgements. To use simpler words, many people are plainly stupid. And you can't really blaim someone for being stupid, just like you can't blaim a child for being less aware and intelligent than some (!) grownups

[Anonymous]

they give out darwin awards for this sort of stupid behavior

[PBenham]

Sad indeed, the woman should be compelled, NO --ordered to pay ALL the expenses of her daughter's injuries, all Hospital Bills, all Prosthetic expenses and all other extraordinary expenses, such as psychologists/psychatrists as long as she lives, in prison (where I'd put her) or where ever she winds up!

[CANADIANPACIFIC2816]

QUOTE: Originally posted by electro-ortcele

so much anger in you people

Hey, some of us have a right to be angry. Within the last hour I came close to witnessing another traggedy much like this one. I was out photographing some cars on one of the BNSF's siding a few blocks from my home. About the time I had finished taking pictures and was ready to head for home, a couple engines coupled onto one end of this cut of cars out of my line of sight, and I am talking of at least 20 cars here. I could hear the brake line being charged with air throughout the entire string of cars.

Just as I was about to head for home, I watched two adults come walking off the bike trail and they headed straight for this cut of cars. I instinctively knew what they had in mind and I warned them not to do it. They crawled underneath a covered hopper and were gone. Hardly a minute later that train started moving!! This scared the HELL out of me and I was not prepared for what might have happened! I do not carry a cell phone so I could not have called the police or the railroad authorities to warn them! None of us who are witnesses to things like this need to have our days ruined by people who should know better. I would not sleep very well at all if these two individuals had ended up badly hurt or at worse, killed right in front of me.

CANADIANPACIFIC2816

[Anonymous]

maybe someone already suggested this but i'm too lazy to read thru every post which is usually the same. but a crime should be 'repaid' eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. run the mom's arm over with a train to even the score for effin up her daughter.

the mother obviously must not be all that great if the kids live with their father and he has primary custody (dunno if that's a proper term or not but you get the idea).

[TomDiehl]

QUOTE: Originally posted by electro-ortcele

QUOTE: Originally posted by espeefoamer

The boyfriend should have been charged too,and both should have been thrown in jail immediately[:(!]!

and how would this help them and the child?

For one thing, it would remove this child and any other childeren she has from such dangerous custody. Almost any foster parents would be smarter than this moron.

[richardy]

I think the DA would have charged the boyfriend if he could but since the boyfriend was not a legal guardian of the child and the mother is and was present to make a decision not to go under the train, the DA probably has a legal problem charging the boyfriend. The boyfriend may not be legally responsible but he sure is morally responsible for this act. I agree the mother should have been arrested, let her come up with $7,500 if she wants to be with her daughter.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by CANADIANPACIFIC2816

QUOTE: Originally posted by electro-ortcele

so much anger in you people

Hey, some of us have a right to be angry. Within the last hour I came close to witnessing another traggedy much like this one. I was out photographing some cars on one of the BNSF's siding a few blocks from my home. About the time I had finished taking pictures and was ready to head for home, a couple engines coupled onto one end of this cut of cars out of my line of sight, and I am talking of at least 20 cars here. I could hear the brake line being charged with air throughout the entire string of cars.

Just as I was about to head for home, I watched two adults come walking off the bike trail and they headed straight for this cut of cars. I instinctively knew what they had in mind and I warned them not to do it. They crawled underneath a covered hopper and were gone. Hardly a minute later that train started moving!! This scared the HELL out of me and I was not prepared for what might have happened! I do not carry a cell phone so I could not have called the police or the railroad authorities to warn them! None of us who are witnesses to things like this need to have our days ruined by people who should know better. I would not sleep very well at all if these two individuals had ended up badly hurt or at worse, killed right in front of me.

CANADIANPACIFIC2816

of course you have the right, nobody is preventing you to have any feelings, from joy to hate, but it ain't actually benefiting either you or the people around you.
Anger is not constructive.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by farmer03

maybe someone already suggested this but i'm too lazy to read thru every post which is usually the same. but a crime should be 'repaid' eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. run the mom's arm over with a train to even the score for effin up her daughter.

the mother obviously must not be all that great if the kids live with their father and he has primary custody (dunno if that's a proper term or not but you get the idea).

What happened to christian values of turning the other cheek?
Well, Jesus must have been a fool then...

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by TomDiehl

QUOTE: Originally posted by electro-ortcele

QUOTE: Originally posted by espeefoamer

The boyfriend should have been charged too,and both should have been thrown in jail immediately[:(!]!

and how would this help them and the child?

For one thing, it would remove this child and any other childeren she has from such dangerous custody. Almost any foster parents would be smarter than this moron.

Well, why don't we ask the child with whoom would she rather live.
I know I soure wouldn't like someone I don't even know decide where I'm going to live.

[TomDiehl]

QUOTE: Originally posted by electro-ortcele

QUOTE: Originally posted by farmer03

maybe someone already suggested this but i'm too lazy to read thru every post which is usually the same. but a crime should be 'repaid' eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. run the mom's arm over with a train to even the score for effin up her daughter.

the mother obviously must not be all that great if the kids live with their father and he has primary custody (dunno if that's a proper term or not but you get the idea).

What happened to christian values of turning the other cheek?
Well, Jesus must have been a fool then...

Jesus wasn't stupid or lazy enough to lead small children through such a dangerous situation when the safe way of passage wasn't that far away.