DERRY, Pa. -- The train's horn sounded and people nearby shouted warnings to a mother crossing train tracks with her children late Friday afternoon in Westmoreland County.
The train struck Sheila Singer, 37, and her 2-year-old son, who was in a stroller, in Derry Borough, killing them.
Witness to tragedy Sandra Short had just lent her best friend, Singer, $50 to buy groceries on the other side of the tracks that cut through Derry.
"She hollered back at me, she said, 'The stroller's stuck. I can't get it off.' That (sic) was the last words she said. Then, the train hit her," Short said. "I told her, I said, 'Sheila, please don't go across the tracks.' And, she said, 'I have to,' and, I said, 'Can I watch the kids?' She said, 'No, I got the kids.'"
Investigators said they believe the mother first walked a 4-year-old girl and her infant sister across the tracks before going back for her son in the stroller. Short came running when her child alerted her Singer was struggling to free the stroller from the tracks.
"The female was thrown approximately 50 feet from the point of impact. The child was thrown much further than that and had actually got swept under the train," Westmoreland County Deputy Coroner Chris O'Leath said on Friday.
"That was the last exact words that she said. She said, 'I ain't leaving my babies. My babies got stuck and I ain't leaving them.' She said, 'I can't get off the tracks,'" Short said.
Short comforted her friend's other children who were not in the accident.
"She was crying, 'I want my mommy, I want my mommy,' and she tried to go over to her mom but I wouldn't let her. I held her back because I didn't want her to see her mom in that shape," Short said. "She was a very loving and caring person for her kids. She more or less died for her kids to save them but she couldn't save one."
On Saturday, Derry's police chief made it clear that he was told by the mayor and council previously not to cite people for crossing at the track at the scene behind the Dollar General store on South Chestnut Street. He said, going forward in the wake of this tragedy, citations may be issued.
The Video -
http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/...334/index.html
Goes into detail about the bridge over the tracks where residents are "supposed" to walk up a set of stairs, and over the tracks to the shopping area. She and the boy who were killed by the train took a short cut, right across the tracks. Looks like the city has been looking into installing a better elevated way over the tracks, but there is no money for it.
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