Teenage girl hit by train in Worcester

WORCESTER, Mass. (WHDH) -- A teenage girl was hit by a train and rushed to the hospital in Worcester Tuesday.

She was walking toward the mall with a group of friends when investigators say she crossed train tracks and tried to grab hold of the train. Her leg got caught in the train’s wheels and dragged her a short distance.

A man returning from his family’s cabinet and crate building business watched the horror unfold.

“She grabbed onto the ladder which is in like the middle of the chemical tankers -- the black chemical tankers and she grabbed on and almost immediately let go but had been pulled slightly so she fell on her back and one leg went over the tracks,” said Jason Desrosiers, a witness. “And then the wheels went over her and kind of pulled her and rolled her as it went over her and rolled her away from the tracks.”

Desrosiers said it was hard to watch.

“At the point of impact you kind of just had to turn away,” Desrosiers said.

There was little official information Tuesday, but it appeared the girl cut through a hole in a fence to get from the Glendale Mall to the neighborhood across the tracks.

Desrosiers said he called 911 and tried his best to help.

“She was conscious and talking the whole time,” Desrosiers said. “She was in pain. She didn’t want anyone to touch her. She didn’t want anyone near her…she was very scared, very upset…I covered the wound as best I could.”

The tracks sit adjacent to the mall and the World Gym. People inside the gym witnessed the emergency response.

“We saw a girl laying on the tracks and they put her on a stretcher. And when they picked her up all I could see was one leg…We weren’t sure if she did lose her leg or what had happened,” said Mike Amann, World Gym employee.

7News was told the girl’s injuries were not life threatening. The extent of damage to her leg is unknown.

The Providence and Worcester Railroad says there were two locomotives and 24 cars in the train.

According to some accounts, the train didn’t stop and the crew may not have been aware of what happened.