By Lisa Trigg
TERRE HAUTE — As a girl growing up in a peaceful Tuttle Avenue neighborhood of North Terre Haute, Becky Shelton wouldn’t even consider swimming in the nearby waters of Otter Creek.
“Now they come in droves,” she said, of people looking to cool off in the muddy brown water.
It seems the creek, and the train trestle that crosses it just north of her residence, are a dangerous attraction these days to area children and adults.
“I knew, eventually, something bad was going to happen, because there’s kids out there swimming all the time,” Shelton said Wednesday afternoon while discussing an accident in which a CSX freight train struck a father and his young son.
Mark Priehs, 21, was on the trestle Tuesday holding his 3-year-old son, Braden, when both were hit. Both father and son remain hospitalized in Indianapolis due to their injuries, although Braden’s condition was listed as good on Wednesday afternoon.
“I had no idea it would be a train though,” Shelton continued. “I thought it would be a kid in the creek getting hurt.”
Shelton and her husband, Don, moved into Becky’s childhood home in 1992. The couple said they have seen dozens of people at a time swimming in the creek beneath the trestle. The sandy banks of the creek provide easy access to the water, once a would-be swimmer scrambles down wooded and overgrown banks around the train tracks.
“The other day we heard some kids say it was too crowded and they went home,” Don said.
“And just a couple of weeks ago, there was some jumping off the trestle into the creek,” Becky added.
The structure is about 20 feet above the water. On the east side of the trestle, a small walkway with a cable railing might provide an emergency place to avoid a passing train for anyone caught on the tracks. But it was the west side of the trestle that Priehs went to, holding his son, in hopes of avoiding the train. A part of the engine struck Priehs and sent him flying into the waterway along with the toddler.
Emergency personnel were first notified of the incident at 4:37 p.m., Vigo County Central Dispatch records show. Several emergency units responded to the scene and Mark Priehs was transported by emergency helicopter to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis. Braden was taken by ambulance to Union Hospital then airlifted to Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis.
The young father and son live with their extended family in a nearby mobile home park on Estate Road. The family recently had moved out of a smaller unit into a larger mobile home, a neighbor told the Tribune-Star.
Some of the residents of that mobile home park are among the regular swimmers in the creek, Don Shelton said.
Tuesday after the accident, Chief Deputy Greg Ewing of the Vigo County Sheriff’s Department said his investigation revealed that other people swimming in the creek warned those on the trestle that the train was approaching. Mark Priehs’ 17-year-old sister also was on the tracks when the northbound CSX train blew its whistle, and she was able to get off the tracks to safety in time.
Becky Shelton said the trains regularly pass by her house and blow their warning whistles well before reaching the trestle area. The trains also sound their signals at the numerous street crossings in the area.
“When they come through, they blow and you can tell from a distance there’s a train coming,” she said.
Both Sheltons said they have called police in the past to report swimmers trespassing on their property to get to the creek.
“They run them off, but they come back,” Becky said.
While the waters of Otter Creek likely are polluted by agricultural chemical runoff, as well as septic overflow, that does not seem to deter people who want to cool off.
About a mile away at Mill Dam Park along Otter Creek, young people were swimming Wednesday in the water both above and below the dam where a sandy beach was occupied by sunbathers.
A few hundred yards south of the dam, a train trestle still marked “Conrail” crosses Otter Creek.
“I’ve seen people jump off there,” 19-year-old Rochelle Beachem said, as she dried off after a swim with her friends. “I’m not jumping off.”
Beachem was swimming with Brian Thomas, Zach King and Danielle Norton, who said they enjoyed the water for about an hour to escape Wednesday’s 90-plus-degree heat.
The water is only about chest-high, King said, and the rocky bottom is tough on the feet. Still, they traveled from the neighborhood near Chauncey Rose Middle School to wade into the cool water.
Meanwhile, CSX Transportation spokesman Gary Sease said the investigation into the accident continued most of Tuesday night, and likely will go on for a few days.
Ironically, CSX officials received word of the accident while they were in Washington, D.C., preparing for the announcement of a new public awareness campaign to reduce train-related pedestrian deaths and injuries.
“This accident reinforced in all of us as we launch this message today that we need to take the common-sense approach to educate the public about trespassing on railroad property,” Sease said.
The train involved in Tuesday’s accident was heading from Evansville to Chicago, and had two locomotives pulling 132 cars.
CSX has its own police force, which is investigating the accident, but at the current time, Sease said, the railroad company is focusing on working with the Priehs family to help them get through this medical crisis.
Sease said the speed limit for the trestle is 25 miles per hour, and it appears the train was traveling at the appropriate speed prior to the accident. The investigation will look at all factors involved, such as visibility, operation of nearby signal devices and speed.
As for the enforcement of no trespassing in the trestle area, Sease said the investigators will consider that issue, and also will work with local police and deputies to see if more can be done to discourage trespassing on railroad property.
Lisa Trigg can be reached at (812) 231-4254 or lisa.trigg@tribstar.com.
Common-sense safety tips around tracks and trains:
1. The only safe place to cross railroad tracks is at a public crossing — designated by the crossbuck.
2. Turn off your cell phone and MP3 players when you’re near train tracks. Forget texting, as it could be a deadly distraction near the tracks. Trains are quieter than you think, go faster than they appear, and do not run on set schedules.
3. Look both ways and listen before crossing train tracks. Expect a train at any time.
4. Anywhere other than a public crossing, stay off and away from the tracks.
5. Tracks, trestles, rail yards and equipment are private property. If you hunt, fish or ride your ATV on the tracks, you are trespassing.
Information Web sites: www.oli.org; www.dot.gov; www.csx.com; www.commonsenseuseit.com.
