Twelve-Year-Old, 3 Adults Dead After Hardeeville Train Wreck

HARDEEVILLE, S.C.—There is more information about the victims of that deadly crash on Hardeeville train tracks Monday night.  A 12-year-old child and three adults died at the scene.  Family members of the child say the others in the car were her neighbors.  They were all from Hardeeville where the crash happened around 9:00 Monday night.  Officials say the driver tried to get around the lowered arm.  The car was pushed for about a mile down the track.  No passengers on the Amtrak train were injured.  Tuesday, workers from railroad company CSX inspected the scene-making sure it was safe to resume operations.  And a spokesman for the company says they are cooperating fully with law enforcement in the investigation.

Nobody here at the scene knew who was inside the mangled car when they watched from a distance Monday night.  But many grieved, just knowing four of their neighbors were gone, including an innocent child who we now know was 12-year old Taylor Arnsdorf, riding in a car with neighbors Jason Scott, Melissa Thomas and Nancy Ratliff.  The 15 passengers in the train that hit them unharmed physically—but rocked emotionally.

“Oh it wasn’t no impact at all.  Didn’t feel nothing like that.  I’m just sorry that that happened to them people- you know, “ a passenger said.

As sure as a new day, the reality of this tragedy rises, too.  Buckets for donations sit at nearby registers because Taylor’s family faces funeral costs with no insurance. And then there’s the investigation and what police say is the sad truth.  This is a story that should never have to be told.

“Trains just can’t stop and had they complied then obviously we’d have four people with us today,” Hardeeville Police Chief Richard Nagy said.

The speed limit in that area for the train is 79 miles per hour and a CSX representative said it takes about a mile for them to come to a complete stop at that speed.