Stroller Carrying Toddler Rolls Onto Subway Tracks In Queens
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A 2-year-old child rolled onto the subway tracks in Queens Monday and survived, thanks to the quick action of the little girl's mother and that of a subway cleaner who helped the frightened mother grab her child before a train arrived.
Stroller Carrying Toddler Rolls Onto Subway Tracks In Queens
As CBS 2's John Slattery reported, the girl was in the stroller when it rolled onto the tracks of the eastbound E train, at the Jamaica Center-Parsons Boulevard and Archer Avenue stop in Jamaica, Queens, around 11:15 a.m., Monday. The child's 39-year-old mother turned to throw something away in a trash can at the time, sources told CBS 2.
Just as the woman jumped down onto the tracks after the stroller, a few Good Samaritans, the subway cleaner, came to their rescue and helped bring the mother and daughter onto the platform.
The subway cleaner, who identified herself only as Diane, talked about her experience.
"I'm a mother, so I know how she must have felt," she told Slattery.
She described what she saw happen.
"The mother was throwing out a bottle in garbage, and she didn't put brakes on stroller, and carriage went back," Diane said.
The mother ran after the girl when the stroller fell onto the vacant tracks.
"She jumped onto the tracks to save her child," Diane said.
Fortunately, no train was coming at the time, she said.
"Not at the moment, thank God," Diane said. "I helped the lady pull her out."
Other Good Samaritans joined in afterward. An official with the Transit Workers' Union said Metropolitan Transportation Authority workers took steps to stop the next train -- using flashlights.
"And they stopped the train operator while he was proceeding into Parsons and Archer," said union vice president Nelson Rivera.
One strap-hanger told 1010 WINS' Derricke Dennis that strollers on the subway can be dangerous.
"They're faulty, so we have to show a lot of care and concern," Carolyn Campbell said.
The girl's mother suffered a sprained ankle and was taken to North Shore Long Island Jewish Medical Center. The girl herself was taken to the same hospital after suffering cuts to the face.
"She only had a little bruise in the face and the nose," Diane said.
Both the child and her mother were reported in "stable" condition Monday afternoon.
You Might Also Be Interested In:
