Embolalia
23-11-2008, 19:16
I saw this in this morning's Albany, NY Times Union.
A man's car was hit by a train, spinning it into the path of a second train. He and his two kids somehow walked away. He's going to have something to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.
http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=742907&category=REGION
NEW SCOTLAND — A New Scotland man and his two daughters escaped with scrapes and bruises after their SUV was hit by two freight trains Saturday morning.
Champion Windows
Peter Salerno, 38, credits God with inspiring him to grab his 11- and 8-year-old daughters out of their seats and shielding them with his body after he discovered he was trapped in his vehicle as the second train bore down on them.
"I normally wouldn't have the presence of mind to do that," said Salerno, who works for National Grid. "I just credit God Almighty himself with telling me to grab the girls. After the second train hit, I looked back at where Sydney was sitting and it was just gone."
Police said they were stunned that the three members of the Salerno family walked away from the wreck, which obliterated a 2001 Land Rover Discovery SUV.
Around 9:45 a.m., Salerno put two of his daughters, Kelly, 11, and Sydney, 8, into the SUV. The trio were on their way to Bleecker Stadium to watch Kelly and her cheerleading squad perform at a Pop Warner League football game. The train crossing is about 200 feet from the end of their driveway and is on top of a steep hill. It is marked only with a white, x-shaped sign. There are no lights or automatic gates, and neighborhood residents must listen for train whistles and crane their necks to make sure it is safe to go.
"I looked to the left and saw a train way down, and he looked like he was barely moving," said Salerno. He crossed the first set of tracks and looked to the right to check for a train on the westbound set of tracks. "I looked and looked again and didn't see anything. When I got onto the tracks I looked and he was right there." He hadn't heard a train whistle.
The westbound train hit the SUV in the front end on the passenger side, and sent the vehicle spiraling onto the other set of tracks, the one on which Salerno had already seen a train.
"I looked out the window and the front end of the car was gone so I knew it wouldn't start. The doors wouldn't open either." He explained to the girls that they had been hit by a train, and he apologized. He tried his door and found it wouldn't open. Neither would any of the other doors. They were trapped. The second train was getting closer.
"I said, "Girls, I am so sorry, but we're going to be hit again."
He estimates he had 20 seconds to watch the train approach. In that time, Salerno, who is broad-shouldered and muscular, grabbed one daughter with each arm and pulled them into the driver's seat with him. "I just grabbed them without undoing their seatbelts," he said. "I tried to shield them and then just hugged the driver side door."
All three Salernos said they remembered the atmosphere feeling eerily silent. Then, Kelly looked to her right and saw her entire field of vision filled by the engine of the second freight train. There was the sound of glass shattering, and the squealing of a train's brakes. The car was pushed off the tracks, and everything was once again very silent.
"I said, "Girls, can you move your hands and feet? I had blood running down my forehead and that was upsetting them, so I wiped it away. Where the back seat was just looked like an archway, so we crawled out." The front passenger side door was pushed almost entirely into the passenger seat, where Kelly had been sitting.
By this time, Salerno's other children, Adam, 13, and Emily, 12, had run out of the house because they heard the crash.
"I saw the car and I thought they were dead," said Adam, who called 911.
Albany County Sheriff James Campbell said he was stunned that there were any survivors after he saw the remains of the vehicle. "This is my 43rd year doing this and I have never seen anyone walk away from something like this," Campbell said. "This family has a lot to be thankful for at Thanksgiving."
Campbell said he notified the National Transportation Safety Board of the incident, and that the Sheriff's Department was still investigating. Campbell said one of the trains had a video camera that will show a conductor's-eye-view. "We'll be able to know how fast they were going, when, if ever, they blew their horns," Campbell said.
A CSX spokesman said the company would do its own investigation of the incident. The spokesman, Garrick Francis, said state governments are responsible for determining what safety devices are put at a particular railroad crossing.
Salerno, meanwhile, knew that there was another force at work besides God and a father's instinct to protect his children. "That car," he said. "I'll be doing commercials for Land Rover within a month."
A man's car was hit by a train, spinning it into the path of a second train. He and his two kids somehow walked away. He's going to have something to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.
http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=742907&category=REGION
NEW SCOTLAND — A New Scotland man and his two daughters escaped with scrapes and bruises after their SUV was hit by two freight trains Saturday morning.
Champion Windows
Peter Salerno, 38, credits God with inspiring him to grab his 11- and 8-year-old daughters out of their seats and shielding them with his body after he discovered he was trapped in his vehicle as the second train bore down on them.
"I normally wouldn't have the presence of mind to do that," said Salerno, who works for National Grid. "I just credit God Almighty himself with telling me to grab the girls. After the second train hit, I looked back at where Sydney was sitting and it was just gone."
Police said they were stunned that the three members of the Salerno family walked away from the wreck, which obliterated a 2001 Land Rover Discovery SUV.
Around 9:45 a.m., Salerno put two of his daughters, Kelly, 11, and Sydney, 8, into the SUV. The trio were on their way to Bleecker Stadium to watch Kelly and her cheerleading squad perform at a Pop Warner League football game. The train crossing is about 200 feet from the end of their driveway and is on top of a steep hill. It is marked only with a white, x-shaped sign. There are no lights or automatic gates, and neighborhood residents must listen for train whistles and crane their necks to make sure it is safe to go.
"I looked to the left and saw a train way down, and he looked like he was barely moving," said Salerno. He crossed the first set of tracks and looked to the right to check for a train on the westbound set of tracks. "I looked and looked again and didn't see anything. When I got onto the tracks I looked and he was right there." He hadn't heard a train whistle.
The westbound train hit the SUV in the front end on the passenger side, and sent the vehicle spiraling onto the other set of tracks, the one on which Salerno had already seen a train.
"I looked out the window and the front end of the car was gone so I knew it wouldn't start. The doors wouldn't open either." He explained to the girls that they had been hit by a train, and he apologized. He tried his door and found it wouldn't open. Neither would any of the other doors. They were trapped. The second train was getting closer.
"I said, "Girls, I am so sorry, but we're going to be hit again."
He estimates he had 20 seconds to watch the train approach. In that time, Salerno, who is broad-shouldered and muscular, grabbed one daughter with each arm and pulled them into the driver's seat with him. "I just grabbed them without undoing their seatbelts," he said. "I tried to shield them and then just hugged the driver side door."
All three Salernos said they remembered the atmosphere feeling eerily silent. Then, Kelly looked to her right and saw her entire field of vision filled by the engine of the second freight train. There was the sound of glass shattering, and the squealing of a train's brakes. The car was pushed off the tracks, and everything was once again very silent.
"I said, "Girls, can you move your hands and feet? I had blood running down my forehead and that was upsetting them, so I wiped it away. Where the back seat was just looked like an archway, so we crawled out." The front passenger side door was pushed almost entirely into the passenger seat, where Kelly had been sitting.
By this time, Salerno's other children, Adam, 13, and Emily, 12, had run out of the house because they heard the crash.
"I saw the car and I thought they were dead," said Adam, who called 911.
Albany County Sheriff James Campbell said he was stunned that there were any survivors after he saw the remains of the vehicle. "This is my 43rd year doing this and I have never seen anyone walk away from something like this," Campbell said. "This family has a lot to be thankful for at Thanksgiving."
Campbell said he notified the National Transportation Safety Board of the incident, and that the Sheriff's Department was still investigating. Campbell said one of the trains had a video camera that will show a conductor's-eye-view. "We'll be able to know how fast they were going, when, if ever, they blew their horns," Campbell said.
A CSX spokesman said the company would do its own investigation of the incident. The spokesman, Garrick Francis, said state governments are responsible for determining what safety devices are put at a particular railroad crossing.
Salerno, meanwhile, knew that there was another force at work besides God and a father's instinct to protect his children. "That car," he said. "I'll be doing commercials for Land Rover within a month."