This is the nephew of a friend of my wife. The mother saw it happen.


GARY | A 2-year-old boy was crushed by a freight train Thursday afternoon on tracks that run past his family's mobile home in Gary.

Neighbors heard Ryan Watson's mother calling for the boy about 4:30 p.m. at the mobile home park at Ridge Road and Cleveland Street, they said. Then they heard the train's brakes screech. A few men approached the boy's lifeless, destroyed body, they said. A man who asked not to be identified by name said he saw that the boy died instantly.

"I've seen a lot of things. That's the worst thing I ever saw in my life," the man said.

Neighbor Willie Mitchell also approached the boy's body, he said. He called Watson a "sweet little old kid" with plentiful energy. The boy's third birthday was approaching, the men said.

"Lord have mercy," Mitchell said.

"Poor little fellow got away a little too far."

Gary police Lt. Thomas Pawlak said Watson's death appeared accidental. Pawlak expected Thursday night that no one would be charged in connection with Watson's death, he said. Social workers descended on the scene Thursday night, asking witnesses how closely supervised Watson was when he wandered onto the tracks.

Pawlak said Watson was playing in the yard of the family's mobile home, which sits only a few yards from the Norfolk Southern tracks. An adult who was watching Watson left the yard briefly, Pawlak said. The adult came back outside to find the boy had run from the yard, Pawlak said.

The man who asked not to be identified said he heard Watson's mother call for the boy. The man ran behind his own mobile home to see if the boy was playing with the man's dog, as the boy often did.

"Next thing you know I heard the brakes lock up on that train," the man said.

The boy's mother saw that he was dead, Mitchell said. The neighbors stopped the boy's family and the train's conductor from viewing the boy, the men said.

The freight train blocked Ridge Road until 7:03 p.m., when the cars lurched and pulled from a scene that drew dozens of police, social workers and religious officials. Watson's family members cried into cell phones as neighbors watched the body's removal and the investigation that continued after dark.

Pawlak advised parents who live near train tracks to watch their children closely. Mitchell said the boy's mother took her eyes off the boy briefly before the accident.

"Just for a split second, man," Mitchell said.

"Gone."