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Father, son killed by train

HANDOUT Robert Stacey Brown was killed, along with his son, on Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2012 after being struck by a train.

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Trenton police and firefighters investigate a scene of a man and child struck by a train on Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2012.

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Photos: Father, son killed by train

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By Eric Schwartzberg, Staff Writer Updated 11:13 AM Thursday, February 23, 2012

TRENTON — A man and his 4-year-old son were struck and killed by a train Wednesday, according to Trenton police.

Robert Stacey Brown, 33, of Delhi Drive in Trenton, was carrying a stroller with his son, Robert Coy Brown, across the railroad tracks near the intersection of Potter Avenue and East State Street around 5:10 p.m. Wednesday when they were struck, according to Trenton police chief Timothy Traud.

“It sounded like it was going to derail,” said Kim Standafer, manager of Hudson Income Tax Service, which is located beside the tracks near the scene of the accident.

Police estimate both were thrown between 50 to 60 feet. The elder Brown was pronounced dead at the scene.

Seconds after the crash, a woman who witnessed the incident sought to alert emergency crews.

“Once she saw him get thrown, she ran in our front door and hollered ‘Dial 911!’” Standafer said.

The boy was taken by helicopter to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Cincinnati, where he was pronounced dead, according to Traud.

The freight train, which was headed to Cincinnati from Lima, had three locomotives and 55 cars, CSX spokesman Bob Sullivan said Wednesday night.

He had no information about the train’s speed or what it was carrying, but said CSX is working with Trenton police in its investigation of the accident.

Sarah Adams said she heard screaming from the window of her home but initially dismissed it as the sound of a fight or children coming home from school.

Making her way to the scene, she saw the boy’s body being carried from an ambulance to a helicopter and emergency crews holding up a sheet to shield the sight of his body.

“They did warn us that we didn’t want to see it,” she said.

The man’s parents and the boy’s mother were informed of both deaths, police said.

Traud said witnesses told police the gates and signals were working and the train had sounded its horn.

He said he did not the train’s speed, how close it was when Brown attempted to cross the tracks or the reason why Brown attempted to do so, but hoped to find answers via interviews with witnesses and by watching the tragic incident unfold.

“All of the locomotives do have cameras and we will be requesting to view the footage concerning this crash,” Traud said.

A train-pedestrian or train-vehicle crash is “pretty unusual for the city of Trenton,” he said.

“I’ve been here 31 years and I only remember seven or eight, so it’s not a usual occurrence here,” Traud said.

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