A
van crashed into a train at 14th Avenue and University Boulevard in
Middletown at approximately 6:57 p.m. Tuesday, July 28, 2015. Three
children were reported to be seriously injured.
By Ed Richter
Staff Writer
MIDDLETOWN, OHIO —
A
woman is dead and three children are in serious condition after a van
crashed into a CSX train at 14th Avenue, west of University Boulevard in
Middletown this evening.
Lt. Clint Arnold, of the Hamilton post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol, said a woman riding in the passenger seat of a gray Ford van that collided with the train died at Atrium Medical Center in Middletown around 8:40 p.m. from injuries sustained in the crash. A name has not been released, pending notification of next of kin.
Sgt. Dexter Howard, of the OSP, said the female driver of the van carrying nine passengers — eight of them children — went through the crossing gate and collided with a train around 6:57 p.m. Howard said the crossing gates were down and the lights were working at the time of the crash and there were no signs of any skid marks from the van, which would indicate an effort to stop.
The van may have been coming from a vacation Bible school, according to reports. In addition to the children, police said there were two adults in the van. .
Three children were seriously injured, Howard said. No names or ages were available at this time, according to police. All injured persons were taken to Atrium Medical Center or to Children’s Hospital’s Liberty Twp. campus.
The front right side of the van was almost completely crush and a fender could be seen mangled underneath the train, which had two engines and three cars. The train was moving very slowly at the time of impact, according to the OSP.
Brad Tomlinson, who lives in the 900 block of Baltimore Street, says he often walks his dog in the area where the crash happened, which is near the Barrett Paving Materials plant. He arrived on the scene just as medics were removing the children from the mangled van. He said some of the children looked “really bloody” and some had huge cuts across their foreheads.
“Everybody tries to beat the trains through here,” Tomlinson said. “You never know when a train is coming through here. They don’t watch what they are doing when they come through here. I wish they would watch what they are doing.”
Tomlinson said the train’s engineer told him the woman driving the van “just didn’t stop.”
At about 8:20 p.m., a woman who had two children on the van, ages 5 and 9, arrived on the scene, frantically crying, “Where’s my kids? Where’s my kids? Where are they at?”
The woman, who one of the passengers in the truck she arrived in identified only as Jessie, said the children were with the Church at Mayfield on Burbank Avenue. She quickly left the scene headed for the hospital.
A tow truck was removing the van from the scene about 8:30 p.m.
Arnold said a preliminary report on the crash would not be available until about 10 p.m.
This story will be updated as more information becomes available.
Lt. Clint Arnold, of the Hamilton post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol, said a woman riding in the passenger seat of a gray Ford van that collided with the train died at Atrium Medical Center in Middletown around 8:40 p.m. from injuries sustained in the crash. A name has not been released, pending notification of next of kin.
Sgt. Dexter Howard, of the OSP, said the female driver of the van carrying nine passengers — eight of them children — went through the crossing gate and collided with a train around 6:57 p.m. Howard said the crossing gates were down and the lights were working at the time of the crash and there were no signs of any skid marks from the van, which would indicate an effort to stop.
The van may have been coming from a vacation Bible school, according to reports. In addition to the children, police said there were two adults in the van. .
Three children were seriously injured, Howard said. No names or ages were available at this time, according to police. All injured persons were taken to Atrium Medical Center or to Children’s Hospital’s Liberty Twp. campus.
The front right side of the van was almost completely crush and a fender could be seen mangled underneath the train, which had two engines and three cars. The train was moving very slowly at the time of impact, according to the OSP.
Brad Tomlinson, who lives in the 900 block of Baltimore Street, says he often walks his dog in the area where the crash happened, which is near the Barrett Paving Materials plant. He arrived on the scene just as medics were removing the children from the mangled van. He said some of the children looked “really bloody” and some had huge cuts across their foreheads.
“Everybody tries to beat the trains through here,” Tomlinson said. “You never know when a train is coming through here. They don’t watch what they are doing when they come through here. I wish they would watch what they are doing.”
Tomlinson said the train’s engineer told him the woman driving the van “just didn’t stop.”
At about 8:20 p.m., a woman who had two children on the van, ages 5 and 9, arrived on the scene, frantically crying, “Where’s my kids? Where’s my kids? Where are they at?”
The woman, who one of the passengers in the truck she arrived in identified only as Jessie, said the children were with the Church at Mayfield on Burbank Avenue. She quickly left the scene headed for the hospital.
A tow truck was removing the van from the scene about 8:30 p.m.
Arnold said a preliminary report on the crash would not be available until about 10 p.m.
This story will be updated as more information becomes available.