Three killed in Gary train-car collision
Woman, 37, two children die in morning wreck
Three people died Tuesday morning after a freight train struck their vehicle in Gary’s Miller section on Howard Street, near Miller Avenue.
Gary police Cmdr. Jack Hamady said police received a call about the crash at the gated crossing about 7:20 a.m. and when they arrived they found three people had been ejected from a mangled, light gray Chevrolet sedan.
The car’s bumper was ripped off by the impact and sat near the vehicle as emergency crews worked to clear the site. The motorist had been heading south on Howard Street.
Two Lake County coroner vans were at the scene.
The coroner’s office identified the dead as Shemika Herbert, 37, Deniya Brown, 11, and Deyki Mitchell, 13, all of the 5800 block of Kennedy Terrace in Gary.
A CSX Railroad official said no one on the eastbound freight train was injured.
The crash blocked the tracks on Lake Street and on Old Hobart Road in Miller for several hours.
“We all are saddened when we lose any of our friends and neighbors, but it’s especially painful when we lose multiple members of a family, including young ones,” Mayor Jerome Prince said in a statement. “We lost several members of a family in a train-car collision this morning. At this point, details are limited as different law enforcement agencies and the CSX railroad continue investigating this incident.
“Whatever the outcomes of these investigations, I implore every resident and visitor to be extra cautious when using every railroad crossing and please respect crossing gates and safety devices throughout our city.”
Gary City Councilman William Godwin, D-1st, said he couldn’t comment on the crash specifics, because he hadn’t been briefed.
“We will continue to push for safety when it comes to trains, and we certainly have a lot of them,” Godwin said. “The council will continue its efforts to work toward improving safety at railroad crossings and throughout the city.”