Mo. teen wearing earphones killed by train

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

WENTZVILLE, Mo. (AP) — For the second time in a month, authorities in the St. Louis area say a teenager has been struck and killed by a train while wearing earphones.

The boy’s mother tells the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (http://bit.ly/NZPpwe ) that she warned her 15-year-old son, Mitchell Maeserang, about the dangers of wearing the buds in both ears while walking near traffic. But authorities say that’s what the teen was doing around 9:45 a.m. Sunday while crossing the tracks in Wentzville.

Mitchell was hit by a Norfolk Southern freight train. Railroad officials say the crew spotted the teen and sounded the horn. Bystanders also tried to get his attention.

On May 30, a 14-year-old boy was also wearing earphones when he was killed by an Amtrak train while walking along railroad tracks in Kirkwood.

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Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, http://www.stltoday.com

More like this story

JCLifer 11 months, 3 weeks ago

Ol' Darwin keeps on working his magic!

JMO 11 months, 3 weeks ago

Regardless of the circumstances, someone lost their child here. Could you show even an ounce of humanity? Kid's do stupid things and sometimes it gets them killed. That doesn't make it any easier for their family.

Sequoia 11 months, 3 weeks ago

It's one thing to mock the famous, the powerful, the public figure. It is quite another to mock a dead teenager, no matter how the death occurred.

I hate this tough guy act people put on. Some pasty, over-fed, fully domesticated white males in easy chairs can't find any other way to express their manliness except to say casually cruel things about powerless people. It makes him feel like the daddy, dispensing harsh discipline to the "children" (homosexuals, the poor, immigrants, women, teenagers, ethnic minorities, etc. Anyone who don't fit in.) Limbaugh is the model they all copy. They fancy themselves bold truth tellers bravely resisting political correctness. I consider them bullies, and apologists for authoritarianism.

This tough guy act was on display during the entire Republican primary. Whoever is most offhand, flippant and casual about their cruelty got the most applause. The internet allows people to say things like this anonymously, with no personal consequence or accountability.

All decent people should take a stand against this poison.

viktorkowski 11 months, 3 weeks ago

"I hate this tough guy act people put on. Some pasty, over-fed, fully domesticated white males in easy chairs can't find any other way to express their manliness except to say casually cruel things about powerless people"

yes most just go to tea party rallies

BobbyJ 11 months, 3 weeks ago

While I completely agree with your statements regarding the effect of internet anonymity, I think it's fascinating that you took a story about a kid getting hit by a train and turned it into your own "truth-telling" rant against bullies and Rush Limbaugh.

In the interest of full disclosure, I am a domesticated fat white man and if we were in the same room, I would've quietly walked away while you were talking.

connor 11 months, 3 weeks ago

Yes wasn't it nice how they threw a nice racial slur out there as well? But of course only conservatives and/or Republicans are racist. Or Sexiest in this case.

him 11 months, 3 weeks ago

The only thing JCLifer was trying to say is common sense goes a long way

Sequoia 11 months, 3 weeks ago

... and someone with common sense would understand why he didn't need to say anything in the first place.

Silverado_Phil 11 months, 3 weeks ago

Sometimes some things just need saying...

Silverado_Phil 11 months, 3 weeks ago

Of course - if nothing needed saying - then y'all would just shut up. And how much fun would that be.

JCLifer 11 months, 3 weeks ago

Showme:

youtu.be/UXoNE14U_zM

kentheco 11 months, 3 weeks ago

Sorry, but I agree with JCLifer. It has nothing to do with a specific political party, only the fact that our government has legislated “common-sense” to the point that some parents no longer bother to instill it in their children. First we had kids in a car playing chicken with a train now another person walks down an active train track (trespassing) while wearing headphones. While I feel sorry for the surviving members of the families that lost their children, I wonder if they now wish they had instilled “common-sense” when they had the chance. The ones I really feel sorry for are the train crewmembers who watched helplessly as these people needlessly died. I also believe that the families should not be rewarded by being allowed to sue the railroad for the death of their child.

BobbyJ 11 months, 3 weeks ago

I agree completely.

Littleinvestor 11 months, 3 weeks ago

Lifer's first comment was callous. But kids have done dumb things from the beginning of time. Kids use to play chicken by driving cars at each other. Chicken with a train is just a new version of that. Presumably, a 100 years ago they ran at each other on horses or in buggies. Common sense, as far as I can tell, is inherited, not learned behavior. Some have it. Some don't.

muleman 11 months, 3 weeks ago

What I dont understand is even tho they had their ears plugged how could they not "feel" the trains coming? A moving freight train sets up a viberation you can feel from a long ways off. Stop at any RR crossing and you will feel what I am talking about, even thru your cars pneumatic tires,the suspension, and a padded seat. Or ask anyone who lives near the tracks.

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