NORTH TONAWANDA, N.Y. (WKBW) — The three people who were killed after a train crashed into a vehicle in North Tonawanda on Friday night have been identified.
The North Tonawanda Police Department has identified the victims as 6-year-old Ra'Mari Geldart of Buffalo, 66-year-old Olive Geldart of North Tonawanda, and 69-year-old David McMinn of North Tonawanda.
The Buffalo Public School District said Ra'Mari Geldart attended BPS 90 and released the following statement:
“Superintendent Williams and the entire district extend their deepest and most sincere condolences and prayers to the families and friends of the 6-year-old who tragically lost his young life due to a train accident over the weekend. As this loss of such a young life has shocked and saddened our entire learning community, but particularly BPS 90, where the child attended school, Superintendent Williams directed the Crisis Prevention and Response Teams to be onsite first thing this morning to lead a faculty meeting and to provide the staff with empathic direction for the day and to assist students experiencing loss, grief, fear, or trauma with a goal of helping them begin to heal. Since BPS #90 serves very young students, these crisis prevention specialists are trained to work with young children to help them in developmentally appropriate supportive ways to better understand and cope with the sudden loss of a friend and classmate. The district will reach out to the family to offer condolences.”
WATCH: 6-year-old boy, two adults killed after train crashes into vehicle in North Tonawanda
North Tonawanda Professional Firefighters Local 1333 said the crash happened just before 8 p.m. at Felton Street and River Road.
According to a statement from Amtrak, train No. 281 was traveling northbound from New York City to Niagara Falls when it struck a vehicle obstructing the track.
Upon arrival, crews found the three victims trapped inside the vehicle. Life-saving measures were performed but they were pronounced dead at the scene.
At a news conference over the weekend, police talked about what led to the incident.
There was a police traffic stop and a vehicle was being towed when the pickup truck involved in the crash drove around the stoppage and onto the tracks.
“Our officer was paired up with a Lewiston PD car. They made a traffic stop on the other side of the gates and that stop resulted in the vehicle being towed,” Keith Glass, Chief of the North Tonawanda Police Department stated.
7 News senior report Eileen Buckley spoke with Glass on Monday and asked why police weren't directing motorists around the stop. Chief Glass responded in a text message saying "It was simply a traffic stop on Felton. We don't close roads for car stops generally."
Over the weekend, Glass said "I can tell you everybody is hurting. I'm not doing great. We got help luckily coming this week that the fire department, police department, and EMTs are all going to be sitting down with counselors and we're all going to get through this."
“It’s horrific, okay, let me put it that way,” declared Thomas Matusak, business owner in North Tonawanda.
“The guy made a right turn onto Felton, saw the congestion of the police on this side, tow truck on this side, and stopped. When he stopped from my understanding, maybe 15-20 seconds later, the horn blows the gates start closing and he's up and tracks between them,” Matusak replied.
Several freight and Amtrak trains roll through this crossing each day.
I wanted to find out how long it takes for the train to reach this intersection, so I timed it all out. When I heard the train horn and the arm came down, it was about 34 seconds as the train arrived through this crossing.
Matusak knows this corner very well. It is where he runs a merchandising business each day.
“I’ve never seen a situation that seemed dangerous and I'm looking at that intersection all day. I’ve never seen where there was anything that was in a panic mode,” Matusak recalled.
An eyewitness to the deadly crash, Chrissy Galla Reid, told the Buffalo News she was "shaking" as she watched the train approach and worked to "block traffic" from River Road once the pickup was on the tracks to prevent other vehicles getting in the way of the truck trying to get out of the path of the train. She also told the News she saw a window open on the pickup and yelled to them to move out of the way. The driver backed up but didn't break through the train arms, something the police chief says you should do.
“They’re made to break away if you drive through them,” Chief Glass responded.
No injuries were reported among the 21 passengers and crew members on the train.
Crews remained at the scene for two hours on Friday night. CSX vehicles were around this area Monday but employees were not allowed to speak to reporters. The police chief stated that investigators are working around the clock to figure out what went wrong.
Bill Stephens, a correspondent and columnist for Trains Magazine and a WNY native, joined 7 Voices on Monday to provide insight into the investigation. You can watch the full conversation below.
