Reporting Jenn Bernstein
By Jenn Bernstein
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – It’s an Eyewitness News exclusive – a mother faces her worst nightmare when her toddler falls between a train and the platform.
Three-yea old Shelby Miller’s birthday wish this year was to visit her great grandparents.
A photo was taken minutes before she and her mother Stephanie pulled into 30th Street Station Wednesday. Stephanie Miller had her hands full with Shelby, a car seat, and three bags.
“They were in a rush and I was nervous this was my first train ride, it was her first train ride,” said Stephanie.
Before their stop, Stephanie reached out to an Amtrak worker, asking for help when they arrived. She was told Amtrak personnel would be at the doors, but Stephanie says no one was there, and when she went to get off the train, another passenger offered to help her daughter.
“He reaches out to grab her hand, she went for it and then got nervous with the gap, and she went right down. Everything happened very quickly.”
She immediately jumped down after Shelby.
“I didn’t expect her to be alive when I got there,” Stephanie said.
Other passengers helped get the mother and child back up off the tracks. Help finally arrived, but she claims there was no one from Amtrak.
Little Shelby was hospitalized with a severe concussion.
“The hole fit her, the hole fit me, the hole’s too big,” she said. “My only goal in this whole thing is that it never happens to another person.”
Amtrak did respond to CBS 3, “We are saddened by the injury to the child and are investigating the claims made by the passenger.”
Stephanie does plan on seeking legal action against Amtrak.
