Mom gets run down by train when baby stroller gets stuck

[numbers123]

There's a difference between doing something stupid and doing something unsafe, and life threatening for you and/or your child.

There are plenty of stupid, unsafe and life threatening things that people do every single day that involve themselves and/or others.

Not using car seats correctly, drinking and driving, walking across an interstate in rush hour traffic (recent event here), etc. Most of those acts are selfish but they get away with them most of the time.

It was a stupid thing to do - I think we agree with that. Whether or not she is a hero for saving her child is another story.

[FigureSpins]

I don't think anyone's calling her a hero, other than her own mother saying that she saved the baby's life. To me, that's a grieving parent trying to find a slim bit of silver lining after the loss of her own child. Just my read of the article.

I looked at the photo and it's an umbrella stroller - why didn't she just pick up the whole thing and run instead of trying to push it? I could see, if the baby was strapped in, panicking at not being able to undo the buckle, but those strollers aren't heavy - you can grab and go.

Maybe the baby's mother wasn't thinking clearly, or intended the story to end this way. Gotta say - at least one of them survived.

It is absolutely not the train staff's fault - they did everything they could and they must be traumatized. Prayers for all involved.

[julieann]

I wonder if the people who feel this way plan on volunteering to do all the stuff the dead mother did for her baby? Feed her, bathe her, change her diapers, etc. Any takers?

Yes, because those menial tasks are what motherhood is all about.

Don't forget about keeping them off of train tracks when a train is coming, that's probably the most important one. Especially when the arms are down and the lights are flashing.

I always feel so sorry for the train conductor, how awful he/she must feel to see what's about to happen and so powerless to stop it.

[MacMadame]

/
No one would be calling the mother a hero for saving her child, but would be insisting that the child be removed and the mother charged with child endangerment. Of course, if the mother had survived and the baby killed, everyone would be calling for the mother's head.

I think it would be more accurate to say "Many" or "some" than "No one" and "Everyone".

I looked at the photo and it's an umbrella stroller - why didn't she just pick up the whole thing and run instead of trying to push it? I could see, if the baby was strapped in, panicking at not being able to undo the buckle, but those strollers aren't heavy - you can grab and go.

Many people panic in these situations and don't think clearly.

[Karina1974]

Many people panic in these situations and don't think clearly.

I wonder what was her excuse before she started crossing the train tracks.

[FigureSpins]

I just thought about it because the report said the stroller got stuck twice. Once I freed it the first time, I would have just picked it up and ran. Maybe the daughter was too heavy.

[numbers123]

I don't know about that. I have pushed wheelchairs in hospital elevators. The first set of wheels get stuck and you get them free - then the second set of wheels get stuck. The door begins to close and you keep pushing hoping that you can get them unstuck before the door closes. That is not a life or death situation, like a train coming toward you, but you panic just a little. I can't imagine what kind of panic was occurring with that mom.

Still a stupid thing to do, but to speculate on what someone should have done based upon what we think we might do is sort of

[duane]

I think it would be more accurate to say "Many" or "some" than "No one" and "Everyone".

It also would've been more accurate if I had said many would "want the mother to be charged with a serious crime" than "be calling for the mother's head". It depends on how literal one wants to be.

[Aussie Willy]

We have this happen in Melbourne quite a bit where people cross or drive against the warning lights and gates. This week a 15 year old girl was killed. Sorry but you cannot protect people against their own stupidity.

[Anita18]

I don't know about that. I have pushed wheelchairs in hospital elevators. The first set of wheels get stuck and you get them free - then the second set of wheels get stuck. The door begins to close and you keep pushing hoping that you can get them unstuck before the door closes. That is not a life or death situation, like a train coming toward you, but you panic just a little. I can't imagine what kind of panic was occurring with that mom.

Still a stupid thing to do, but to speculate on what someone should have done based upon what we think we might do is sort of

I would kick the elevator doors back open. What sort of elevator (let alone one in a hospital) would lack motion sensors so they don't close on people? I have merely stuck my hand between elevator doors and they open right back up, and I'm not referring to snazzy new ones. More like, "Dear God please don't get stuck, I just want to get to class" kind of elevators.

[numbers123]

I know that they do - but it is the sense of panic that I was trying to describe. Wheelchairs and IV poles and other tubes - the struggle of trying to clear the doors/tracks. And how we tend not to think about the logical solutions.

[danceronice]

I know that they do - but it is the sense of panic that I was trying to describe. Wheelchairs and IV poles and other tubes - the struggle of trying to clear the doors/tracks. And how we tend not to think about the logical solutions.

Like the logical solution of not being on the tracks once the gates already begin to come down in the first place? You don't have to panic at all if the train ISN'T bearing down on you, as the signal clearly warned you it was before you started to cross.

There's taking chances, like doing five over the speed limit, and there's STUPID chances, like blatantly ignoring the signal that says "A giant train that CANNOT STOP before it hits you is coming RIGHT NOW so you shouldn't try to cross the tracks."

[numbers123]

How many times do I have to say it was a stupid move by the mother. I was trying to describe what might have happened once the stupid move was done and the events started going in the direction that it did.