Train-loving toddler, 3, killed by freight train after he and his two-year-old sister sneaked...

DAILY MAIL UK ^ | August 8, 2018 | DM reporter

[Morgana]

FULL TITLE: Train-loving toddler, 3, killed by freight train after he and his two-year-old sister sneaked away from home and went to the railroad tracks

An Indiana family has been left devastated after their three-year-old son and his two-year-old sister were hit by a freight train after sneaking out of their home.

Caleb Wilson was killed on impact when he was struck by the train around 9.30am on Tuesday. His sister Ellie was hospitalized in critical condition.

The children's parents have been identified as Kelsey Benson and Jacob Wilson.

Family members said Caleb adored trains and that Ellie adored her big brother and would follow him anywhere he would go.

[Morgana]

The sister was hit but she is alive and in hospital! Pray for her and this family.

[txrefugee]

Who was watching the children? Adults should never leave a three-year-old and a two-year-old alone.

[RedMonqey]

While it is possible(kids can overcome “child proof” barriers) I would strongly suspect drugs or alcohol abuse in this case.

But then there’s always utter stupidity, too.

[Morgana]

They had a security gate up but the children got around it somehow. Seems like no matter how secure you have those things kids find a way to disarm them.

[Blue House Sue]

“’Caleb is a train person,’ Denise Benson, the children’s step-grandmother, told the Times of Northwest Indiana. ‘And, of course, little Ellie follows Caleb everywhere.’ “

No, Caleb was a baby who drew very bad parents in the Mommy & Daddy Lottery, and it appears that Caleb’s step-grandmother is not the shiniest doublewide in the trailer park.

[justiceseeker93]

Very tragic!

[Morgana]

By the looks of the door and the child proof gate they used?

Utter stupidity. I would have fixed that door had it been me. More so being so close to those railroad tracks.

[eastforker]

Yes they can but when parents are distracted on FB or other social media horrible things can happen.

[Morgana]

That or doing laundry, dishes, cleaning the house. Still like to give people the benefit of the doubt. Can’t be with the kid all the time parents do have work to do around the house.

[EinNYC]

These people look like the stereotypical “trailer park trash”. What, they couldn’t securely fasten a piece of radiator cover or board over their door? This was a preventable tragedy had any of the adults had an IQ above their shoe size.

[jalisco555]

Save a thought and prayer for the train engineer. He will have to live the rest of his life with this.

[Mathews]

My parents love me to the moon and back and took very good care of me. They are amazing people... I crawled over the backyard fence when I was four to go see my friend across the street. I got hit by a car driven by a high school girl. Knocked me 20’ out of my cowboy boots and split my forehead open. My mom was in the yard with me and only stepped inside to answer the phone. She took her eyes off me for no more than three minutes. This is an unfortunate situation. A heart wrenching one, but let’s not be too quick to judge the parents please.

[RedMonqey]

I'm of the same mind. If one lives by “attractive nuisance ” and you have very active kids, you make preparations for these little scamps.

Not blaming these babies, they are(or were) what they are.

My brother and me tried to escape the boundaries of our home regularity. The thing that saved us was we lived on a big farm with a long driveway and we tended to giggle loudly as we "escaped"

(Plus an old wooden framed screen door with an taunt spring ) Slapped hard if you didn't hold the door as it closed.

[Blue House Sue]

"That or doing laundry, dishes, cleaning the house. Still like to give people the benefit of the doubt. Can’t be with the kid all the time parents do have work to do around the house."

It does not appear as if there was a whole lot of child watching, cleaning or any other kind of chores being done in Caleb's home.

And with three adults at home, someone should have had an eye on the babies.

[metmom]

Knowing how fast kids can move, I’d like to give the parents the benefit of the doubt, but after looking at the pictures of the dwelling they were living in, I can’t.

[SaveFerris]

Oh my, terrible. I used to scare my Mom to death. I’d ride my trike up to the railroad tracks to watch the trains (there were a LOT of tracks - just visited there 4 years ago).

But I made sure to stay back about 5-10 feet. It was a slow-moving yard so there would be no high-speed derailment.

Prayers up for all involved here.

[Morgana]

Trust me, I live in West Virginia, I’ve see A LOT WORSE.
A few kids toys and a grill in the yard is not bad.

Their trailer needs a coat of paint and some work but I’ve seen people live in a lot worse.

Plus does not mean all three were at home at the time.

[RedMonqey]

I crawled over the backyard fence when I was four to go see my friend across the street.

Understand that.

When my older brother and I were about that age and babysit by our granny who lived next to a budding subdivision , we attempted to climb over the wooden fence to play where the backhoes had dug the footing for the new houses(playing wargames and they made excellent trenches)

And would have made good our escape(with the aid of a young sapling that provided a "step" in the corner of the yard fence) but my brother slipped and impaled himself on the top of the fence.

As he wiggled off it, he ripped his underarm(required over thirty stitches to close) We were closely watched after this attempt(No playing outside without direct supervision. )

We were lucky.

[Pearls Before Swine]

When my kids were 2 1/2 to 3, they escaped a couple of times.

I didn’t think they could pick up the garage door... wrong, and I had to insert a link in the frame every time I closed it after that.

Then, there was the time I took one twin out to the hardware store, and my wife thought I had taken both. Same thing... Actually worse, cause he was car crazed and heading down towards traffic a couple of blocks away.

No, we weren’t drug addled at the time, although we were frazzled.

[Joe 6-pack]

Same here...I could not have asked for more loving, attentive parents, but as a 3-4 year old, I still managed to somehow ride a wooden rocking chair down a short flight of concrete steps on our back porch. I ended up with a couple stitches on my right cheek bone. About age 12, I started referring to it as my, "dueling scar."

I could have just as easily split my head wide open, and it would have been hard to fault my parents when dad was at work to and my mom was cleaning up after me when I slipped out the back door.