some sad shit here

[eKardz]

damn this just happened to my little brothers friend.  its real sad like him and his brother used to come around and stuff.  really makes you think.

Police: Teen dies while trying to beat train

Email this story
Printer friendly format

   
Enter a Category

View List
   

BY CYNTHIA DANIELS and THERESA VARGAS
STAFF WRITERS

March 19, 2005, 4:44 PM EST

Ignoring the flashing lights and bells of a crossing gate, 15-year-old Lucas Svoboda was killed when he tried to beat a Long Island Rail Road train yesterday, Suffolk police said.

Svoboda, of Bayport, was walking north with five friends along Gillette Avenue early yesterday afternoon, said Homicide Squad Det. Sgt. Edward Fandrey. The group was going to a nearby barbershop so one of the boys could get a haircut, a family friend said.

     advertisement    
     
      
   
     advertisement    
 
Svoboda and another friend ran ahead of the group, but the other boy stopped just before the tracks, police said.

Svoboda ducked under the crossing gate, just south of Montauk Highway in Bayport, according to statements from a woman who had been stopped in her car at the tracks. "He's not going to make it," the woman said, according to MTA Police Sgt. John Erickson.

"It happened like that," he added, snapping his fingers.

The teen may not have seen or heard the train. Police believe he was wearing headphones as the train turned a sharp bend at 50 to 55 mph.

Svoboda was tossed about 50 feet into a telephone pole, and the train stopped a quarter-mile down the track. Svoboda was pronounced dead at the scene.

Long Island Rail Road spokeswoman Susan McGowan said the train involved in the incident was the 12:16 p.m., heading east from Jamaica to Montauk. It struck Svoboda at 1:14 p.m.

Family and friends gathered yesterday at the teen's home, just down the road from the crossing. Many said that kids from the neighborhood are often seen there. The Svoboda family is tight-knit, with the seven members often playing board games together.

Yesterday, four toppled bikes and two scooters were parked on the porch.

The boy's mother, Satu Svoboda, was in Finland yesterday, and his father, Alan, was too distraught to talk. Family friend Jim March, also president of the Bayport-Blue Point School Board, spoke on their behalf: "We're too grief-stricken to really comprehend what's just happened," he said.

March described Svoboda as a wonderful kid -- the fourth of five children born to the couple.

Family friend Thomas Smith, 20, wandered in and out of the house, fielding calls from worried friends and breaking the bad news to those who hadn't heard.

He described Svoboda as a "very active, very friendly" teen who never got in trouble and enjoyed soccer, Frisbee and hanging out with friends.

Smith fondly recalled Svoboda's close relationship with his little brother, Alec, 13.

" were as tight as could be -- best friends," Smith said, adding that the two even shared a room. "His brother's torn up."

Alec was not with his brother yesterday when he tried to cross the tracks.

Smith said the teen wasn't one to be careless. "I don't think it was his intention to take a risk for no reason," he said.

As police took Svoboda's body away, a nearby group of kids on bikes huddled at a corner, whispering details of what they'd heard.

In November, a Bayport teen walked onto the tracks west of Snedecor Avenue in Bayport, crouched down and was killed by a Long Island Rail Road train.

"This is another tragedy for this community," March said. "Their hearts are broken .already."

Staff Writer Denise M. Bonilla contributed to this story.

rip.

[Trauma-san]

Yeah, that's horrible man.  I think the worst thing about accidents like this is there's no blame, it's really nobody's fault, just a freak occurance... there's nothing to do to keep it from happening again, and there's no real reason why this family has lost their loved one so tragically, just some strange scenario that leaves somebody way too young dead.  I'll never understand it. 

['EclipZe]

argh that's terrible... happened a while ago 2 around here, a girl from 14 yr old got ran over by a train while like 20 people (a few i know) saw it happen..

[Sikotic™]

It's so sad because it was so avoidable. RIP.

[Matrix Heart]

Ahh well not sad to me.

You can't win em all  his parents should pay for cleaning of the train/telephone pole.

[eKardz]

Ahh well not sad to me.

You can't win em all  his parents should pay for cleaning of the train/telephone pole.

yo man thats fucked up you are a piece of shit and camron and dipset suck ass

[ShadyGuru]

very sad man, that can't be easy for the fam, my thoughts are with them.  A shame to see a loss of life at such an early age

[Boo-Yaa †]

Ahh well not sad to me.

You can't win em all  his parents should pay for cleaning of the train/telephone pole.

fuck you man!

thats a dam shame, RIP

[Denial! Is Actively Joinin The Revolution]

he says anythin to piss people off jus ignore him

bk on topic yeah thats horrible man shud b more safety tho

[411]

Ahh well not sad to me.

You can't win em all  his parents should pay for cleaning of the train/telephone pole.

^^^this is fucked up......and funny at the same time