Falling Railroad Tie From Brown Line Nearly Hit Pregnant Woman
UPDATED 06/29/11 5:50 p.m.
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A heavy railroad tie fell from a CTA "L" track in Lincoln Square last weekend and came close to crushing a car being driven by a pregnant Chicago woman.
As CBS 2's Jim Williams reports, for Veronica McBride, a leisurely drive on Western Avenue was shattered Saturday morning near Western and Leland avenues.
Veronica – who is nine months pregnant – saw an enormous wooden beam fall from the CTA's Brown Line tracks right next to her car.
"It was very, very loud," she said. "My heart was just racing. I didn't know what to do."
Although Veronica was not hurt, her husband David was horrified.
"I can't even fathom how I would feel right now or what would have happened if that tie had fallen just, you know, six or seven feet more to the left," he said. "It would have killed her, without a doubt."
In light of what happened, they both questioned the condition of Chicago's very old L tracks.
"If one of them is rotting and falling to the ground like that, it makes me wonder about the rest of the system, absolutely," David said.
Last year, CBS 2 Investigator Pam Zekman found CTA track debris that had dropped on other streets, nearly hurting people.
Veronica and David McBride reported their near tragedy to the CTA.
"If they're not going to overhaul the whole system, at least give us some guarantee or response that they're going to make sure that this doesn't happen again," David McBride said.
The CTA confirmed that the beam fell on Saturday and that inspectors were sent out to check the overpass and to make necessary repairs.
