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2010-02-22 10:49:29
By MIKE SCHNEIDER, Associated Press Writer Mike Schneider, Associated Press
Writer 2 hrs 18 mins ago
MELBOURNE, Fla. A "no trespassing" sign warned four teenagers in Florida not
to walk onto the railroad trestle where they were joking around and taking
pictures. A fisherman along the banks of the creek below also told them to be
careful.
The final warning was the howling whistle of an oncoming train. They tried to
heed the piercing alarm, but only one was able to sprint to safety.
The other three, all girls, were struck and killed by the train Saturday,
police and witnesses said. Onlookers yelled for the teens to run or jump into
the slow-moving water of Cane Creek 20 feet below, but only a young boy made it
off the 200-foot span.
The teenagers had been hanging out in Melbourne's downtown area known for its
shops and nightclubs when they decided to cross the trestle around 6:30 p.m.,
Lt. Curtis Barger said. Their parents had dropped them off at a mall, and then
they took a bus downtown where they were "just goofing off," he said, without
elaborating.
Bruce Dumas, 53, was fishing under the bridge when he saw the teens walk onto
the trestle. He warned them to be careful, but he said they didn't pay much
attention to him.
"You know how kids are," Dumas said. "They probably wanted pictures of
themselves on the track."
Dumas said he heard the train's whistle, then the sound of the brakes. After
impact, he heard a girl screaming and crying.
"I think the train was on them so fast they froze and didn't know what to do,"
Dumas said. "It's crazy to watch a young life snuffed out like that. They
didn't have a chance to live yet."
The teens could have jumped onto an old, rusty trestle next to one they were
on, though it was unclear why they didn't.
Another fisherman, Charlie Foust, shouted at the teenagers to jump into the
water.
"When they heard the train coming, they started running toward the other side,"
Foust told Florida Today. "It's sad. They were just kids. They probably got
scared and didn't know what to do."
Barger said all the teens were from the area, but their identities weren't
likely to be released until Monday, after officials can compare dental records.
Ralph Smith said one of the teens killed was his niece, Jennifer Reichert, who
was 15 and went to Southwest Middle School in Palm Bay. He did not want to
comment any further.
On Sunday, there was little evidence of the tragedy. A concrete post says,
"Private property, no trespassing." Another sign had fallen onto the ground and
was covered in gravel, and a third was twisted and difficult to see.
Graffiti with the words "more love," with the "o" in the shape of a heart was
on the bridge. Andy Ziegler, a member of the Brevard County school board, said
teens have painted graffiti on the bridge for the past three decades, but he
had never before heard of an accident there.
John Vallee, 54, lives near the trestle and was watching television when he
heard a loud screech. He told the Florida Today newspaper that he went outside
and first thought he saw a blanket tangled under a rail car. Then he realized
it was a person.
"It's going to be hard for me to get to sleep," Vallee told Florida Today. "I
can't get it out of my mind."
Authorities in Melbourne, a city of about 77,000 nearly 50 miles southeast of
Orlando, are investigating.
The track is owned by the Florida East Coast Railway, which operates about 350
miles of track along the state's east coast. Railway officials did not
immediately return calls for comment.