(The following appeared at www.nbc5.com May 6.)
CHICAGO — Police said a woman who was running after her child who had wandered too close to railroad tracks was in critical condition Tuesday morning after she was hit by a freight train.
The incident occurred about 11:30 p.m. Monday along elevated tracks in the vicinity of 101st Street and Eggleston Avenue on Chicago’s South Side, police Officer John Henry said. The woman was hit by a northbound freight train and suffered severe leg damage, he said.
A CSX train was operating along the Union Pacific Railroad tracks when it struck the victim, according to Union Pacific Railroad spokesman Mark Davis.
The woman attempted to pass in front of their southbound train, not at a crossing, when the train struck her, said Davis, who was citing preliminary information.
The CSX train, a “mixed freight train,’’ was on its way from Chicago to Waycross, Ga., when the incident occurred, according to CSX spokesman Garrick Francis, who said the train consisted of two engines and 96 cars. Francis did not know which part of the train, which stopped after the incident, came in contact with the woman, but he said it did not occur at a crossing.
The unidentified woman was taken in critical condition to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Henry said.
Detectives with the Major Accident Investigation Unit said initial reports stated that the woman was struck while running after her child. The child was not injured.