Chicago Area Local News

CHICAGO (CBS) ― Imagine the mother's horror -- watching a CTA train pull away with her daughter's stroller trapped in the doors and her baby daughter still sitting inside it.

The 22-month-old girl is going to recover. She is being treated at Children's Memorial Hospital.

The accident occurred about 6:30 p.m. Monday at the Red Line's Morse station in the Rogers Park neighborhood.

Witnesses told police the child's mother and the child were rushing to catch a southbound train and they ran up the stairs to the platform. They tried to board but the train's door closed onto the stroller with the child in it -- becoming stuck -- and the train began moving while the mother was still on the platform, police said.

The mother told police she ran after the train holding onto the stroller but she fell. She saw the stroller turn sideways and the child's head strike the platform several times as the child was dragged by the train, police said.

Witnesses heard a woman scream and say, "The train took my baby!'' according to police, who said the child -- who was not strapped into the stroller -- was thrown from the stroller and fell to the ground onto the gravel track bed.

Police News Affairs John Mirabelli said the child did not fall onto the tracks.

A Chicago Fire Department ambulance transported the girl to the hospital, according to police.

As CBS 2's Suzanne Le Mignot reports two strangers jumped into action to save the toddler's life. A Rogers Park couple wasted no time after hearing the gut-wrenching scream of a mother.

"Not a situation to dwell on. It could have been much worse," said good Samaritan and witness, Joel Weinberg.

The fact that the child is fine is incredible, especially when you hear just how far a witness says the toddler was dragged, as her devastated mother looked on.

Joel and his wife Rebecca were just about to leave the "L" platform Monday night when both of them saw a woman running up the stairs.

"She was carrying a stroller, and in the stroller was her young daughter and she was yelling for the train to stop, to wait, she was trying to catch this southbound train," said Rebecca Weinberg. "We continued on our way down the stairs, until we heard her start to scream, and it was this very loud, primal sounding scream to us, of someone in anguish."

The couple says they immediately ran to help the mother and her child.

Police say the doors of the CTA train closed before the mother and toddler were able to get on. The stroller got caught between the doors.

All the mother could do was scream for help, while running next to the train as she watched her 22-month-old daughter leave her.

"It probably dragged her 50 to 75 feet along the platform, the stroller, with the baby in it, until it hit the guardrail at the end," said Joel Weinberg.

He said at that point, the baby was thrown from the stroller. He ran towards the guardrail and saw the baby on the gravel, right next to the tracks.

The mother had jumped down to get her child. Joel took the baby from her arms, bringing the child up to the platform.

When asked about the condition of the baby, Joel Weinberg said, "It seemed fine at first. She wasn't screaming or crying like you'd expect, but as soon as Rebecca got her, she started throwing up all over the place and it was red. So a little bit of panic there."

The couple later found out the child may have been given some cough medicine.

"When you realize that someone's screaming and they're crying out for help, and it's a child in need, how can you do anything but help them?" Rebecca said.

The train kept going and it wasn't until several stops later, at the Berwyn station, that the operator was aware of what happened, according to police.

Police said the fact the child was not strapped into the stroller may have saved her life.

"God was looking out for that baby. That could have ended horribly,'' police said.

But now, an investigation is underway to determine how the train operator could have pulled away, not realizing the train was dragging a baby in a stroller.

The doors on all CTA trains should automatically reopen if an object is caught between them. Police said there is a signal on a train that should activate if the train was moving with a door open.

A CTA spokesperson says when the train doors were checked Monday night, they appeared to be working.

The train was removed from service. Tests are still being done on it.

The CTA spokesperson also said:

"Doors on CTA trains are equipped with a sensitive edging that is designed to automatically reopen the door if an object is caught between the doors.

"CTA rules require rail operators to look outside of the motor cab window to verify that it is okay to close the train doors prior to leaving a station.

"In addition to performing a visual inspection, operators are instructed to observe the Outside Signal Lights located by each train door, to determine that the doors are all closed before proceeding to the next stop."

The baby continues improving. Her mother issued a statement through Children's Memorial Hospital.

In the words of the child's mother, Ebere Ozonwu, she thanks God for his miraculous intervention and also calls her child's rescue, "the handiwork of God."

CBS 2's Suzanne Le Mignot and Susan Carlson, and the Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.

(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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