Train Passengers Tried To Help Fatally Injured Man

Passengers on an early morning NJ Transit train from Spring Valley that hit a man on the tracks, attempted to keep him alive. Passenger Tiffany Smolick said she and other passengers got off the train to try to help the unidentified adult male, who was unresponsive.

“All I know is we hit somebody and a few of us went out there you know wasn’t many of us on the train,” she said. “We talked to the man and tried to keep him going until EMS got there and then we got back on the train.”

Smolick of Spring Valley said the man appeared to be young but was in very bad condition. 

“It’s unfortunate,” she said. “It’s sad.”

She said the train staff was “awesome” and tried to help the man and the passengers. 

“It was a genuine effort from everybody I think to try to help this guy,” she said. 

The passengers were not told that the man died. Clarkstown police responded to the scene of the fatality at the Nanuet/Spring Valley border at 8:10 a.m. The accident occurred just before the train tracks crossed New Clarkstown Road. 

Smolick and less than half dozen other passengers disembarked from the train at about 10:30 a.m. and were driven away in an MTA vehicle. 

Numerous emergency services vehicles from the Clarkstown Police Department, NJ Transit, MTA Police and Nanuet Ambulance lined New Clarkstown Road.