Kids killed as mom tries to go through train crossing

Sharyn Jackson and Daniel P. Finney, The Des Moines Register | NationalDesk

Show Caption Hide Caption Kids killed after mom ignores flashing train signals A woman in Batavia, Iowa, drove her car through train tracks. An oncoming train smashed through her car, killing two children.

Mother%2C year-old son injured%2C transported to hospital by helicopter

Another train stopped on tracks blocked mother%27s view%2C officials say

Trains do not slow while passing through smaller towns%2C fire chief says

BATAVIA, Iowa -- The sound of passing freight trains is a constant backdrop in this small southeast Iowa community.

So is the sight of people driving around lowered gates at the Fourth Street crossing, says a woman who lives near the tracks.

A young mother's fateful decision to proceed around the gates and across a double set of tracks -- her view blocked by a train on the first set of tracks -- killed two of her daughters and sent her and a third child to the hospital Monday afternoon.

The 2004 Dodge Caravan driven by Tara Lewman, 25, was struck by a westbound Burlington Northern Santa Fe freight train about 4 p.m., according to the Iowa State Patrol's initial crash report. Killed were Kallie Clark, 5, and Erika Clark, 4.

Lewman and Jordan Clark, 1, were transported by helicopter to University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. Their conditions were unknown Tuesday night.

Lewman apparently stopped at the railroad gates while headed north on Fourth Street, a major north-south farm-to-market road in Jefferson County, said Batavia Mayor Randy Major.

A Burlington Northern Santa Fe freight train was parked to the east of the intersection for a crew change, Major said. After waiting an undetermined amount of time, Lewman drove around the gates and was struck by the westbound train, authorities said. Lewman would not have been able to see that train, they said.

"She knew better," said Bert Lewman, Tara Lewman's uncle, who was on his way from Keosauqua to Iowa City to see his niece.

"She shouldn't have ridden with the arm down, but it's just one of those things," he said.

Sue Kaufmann, whose house borders the railroad crossing, said she sees drivers go around the crossing arms all the time.

"A couple days before this happened, I saw a guy go around the things, and right after he got through, you could hear the train whistling," Kaufmann said.

"I've just been hoping that something like this didn't happen."

The intersection has been the scene of two previous vehicle/train accidents since 1975, according to federal data.

In a 1991 crash, the driver went around a crossing gate, and a passenger was killed.

The Iowa State Patrol investigation of Monday's crash continued Tuesday, but no new information was made public.

A spokeswoman for Burlington Northern Santa Fe declined to comment on the details of the crash. Amy McBeth said the company was cooperating with all investigations and providing support to the employees of the company who witnessed the crash and assisted the victims.

Batavia Fire Chief Dave Wells said that the railroad crew at the scene assisted firefighters, the Iowa State Patrol and other rescue workers in trying to revive and comfort the injured.

"When our guys got there, the railroad people were already doing CPR on one of the kids," he said. "It's a very sad thing. Crashes with small children are never easy to deal with."

An operator at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics said Tara Lewman was not listed as a patient at the hospital and declined to discuss the toddler.

By federal health care privacy rules, a patient or the patient's family may request that the person's presence in a hospital be made private.

Trains do not slow down while passing through smaller communities, unlike in larger cities such as Des Moines, Wells said. Batavia is home to about 500 people.

"Amtrak and the freight trains come through here going about 60 mph," he said.

For those who have lived in Batavia long enough, Monday's accident was a reminder of an Amtrak derailment here in 1990 that injured 100 passengers.

"Batavia's not known for anything, pretty much," said resident Robert Smith, "but you get a little town like this and something like that pops through, you know about it."

Kallie and Erika were students at Cardinal Community School District in Eldon. They usually rode the school bus to and from Batavia, said Lacey Mills, whose sons rode with them.

The school district posted a message to parents on Facebook on Tuesday, saying, "We are working with staff and students to process this loss."

Mills said she had driven across the tracks only 20 minutes before the accident. She saw the parked train, but the crossing arms were up.

"And then when we got home, we heard the firetruck and ambulance," Mills said. "It's pretty much in our backyard, you know?"

When she told her 7-year-old son that his schoolmates had died, "he had tears in his eyes," she said. "He's like, 'Are they gonna come back?'"

Lewman described Kallie and Erika as "real playful, happy."

He called Tara Lewman "a real good mom. She would do anything for the kids."