Crockett High School student on foot struck by train,
Girl is hospitalized with injuries to her lower extremities.
A Crockett High School student was hospitalized Friday morning after she was hit by a train in South Austin near the school.
Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services responded around 5:30 a.m. to a section of railroad tracks on West Stassney Lane near Rose Hill Circle.
Medics arrived and found the girl suffering from injuries to her lower extremities.
Austin police Lt. Brian Gretzner confirmed that the girl was a student, but no other information about her was available.
She was taken to St. David’s South Austin Medical Center with serious, but not life-threatening injuries, authorities said.
Union Pacific spokesman Jeff DeGraff said the train’s conductor spotted the girl walking south toward the train as it headed north. The conductor immediately tried to bring the train to an emergency stop and sounded its horn, but the girl did not get out of the way, DeGraff said.
The train stopped and blocked off Stassney for more than an hour while medics and Austin Fire Department crews worked at the scene. The roadway was reopened shortly before 7 a.m.
A year ago this month, a similar incident happened in Buda when 13-year-old Tanley Yacos died after she was struck by a passing train. Authorities said she sneaked out of her home March 26 with a friend and was walking on the track when she was hit. Her friend was not hurt.
The rail line involved in Friday’s incident cuts a swath through the heart of several South Austin neighborhoods and runs along the eastern edge of the Crockett High School campus.
Another Crockett student, James Dakota, died less than a mile away on the same stretch of track on Sept. 23, 2010. Police said the teen was walking near the 1700 block of Stanley Avenue around 5:15 p.m. when he was hit.
As in Friday morning’s crash, authorities said the train’s crew sounded their horn and tried to get the 16-year-old’s attention but were unsuccessful.
In 2006, 18-year-old Tara Rose McAvoy, a Miss Deaf Texas, also was struck and killed by a train while officials said she was texting and walking along the tracks at Oltorf Street and Thorton Road, about 2 miles north of Friday’s incident.
Crockett Principal Kori Crawford sent a letter after the incident urging students to take the following steps to stay safe around trains:
Stay alert. Trains can come from either direction at any time and can be very quiet.
Obey all warning signs and signals and be mindful when using headsets or cellphones.
Watch the overhang. Trains are wider than the tracks; never sit on the edge of a station platform.
Stand away from the edge of the platform. Pay attention to painted or raised markings at the platform edge, and stay at least 3 feet from the train while it is coming in or out of the station.
Cross safely. Always follow directional signs and markings that let you know where it is safe to cross the tracks. Crossing the tracks anywhere other than designated areas is dangerous and illegal.