A 29-year-old woman from the US state of New Jersey, saved her own life after being hit by a train in early May. Lisa Fitzgerald was struck by a New Jersey Transit (NJT) train at the Morristown train station in northern New Jersey on May 5.
Lisa’s stepmother Stacie Weil-Fitzgerald said on the day of the accident it was raining heavily and her stepdaughter was waiting for a train to take her to New York City.
“Freak accident…somehow, she wound up under the train. Her leg was immediately severed off of her,” Weil-Fitzgerald explained while speaking to Fox News Digital.
Lisa was struck when the train was still entering the station and it was the last few cars of the train that hit her. “She corralled herself up onto the platform and she waited on the tracks. She crawled herself over, poor thing,” Weil-Fitzgerald said.
Lisa told her loved ones that she was afraid that she was going to get caught up in the rails and it would suck her back in. “So she waited for the train to stop. She levied herself up onto the platform and she started screaming for help,” she further added.
Her stepmother said some passengers and people at the railway station walked by her and ignored her screams. A New Jersey Public Transportation Corporation worker spotted her and called for help after which police came.
“Her leg was completely severed. She was bleeding out…she started screaming for help. And somebody that works for New Jersey Transit, the ticket collector, came over, and he totally freaked out,” the stepmother said.
She urgently demanded help, giving a ten-second countdown and starting to scream and count aloud. Fortunately, two Morristown Police Department officers heard her.
Lisa tried to tourniquet her leg with her t-shirt until the officers arrived to assist.
Officials from the Morristown Fire Department (MFD) also arrived to aid the officers and retrieve the severed limb. Lisa’s leg was found beneath the train and handed over to medical personnel.
Lisa was quickly transported to a hospital for treatment, but unfortunately, her leg could not be reattached.
The Morristown Department of Public Safety (MDPS) confirmed the incident in a social media post. “Upon making contact with the female, [an officer] noticed her left leg right above the knee was severed from her body and she was bleeding profusely. He immediately applied a tourniquet and tightened it until the bleeding was observed to have stopped,” the MDPS statement read.
Morristown Fire Department (MFD) officials also arrived to assist officers and recover the missing limb. Lisa’s leg was located under the train and given to medical personnel.
“The actions of Officers Hollain, Cerrick and Moran undoubtedly saved this woman’s life. They exhibited unwavering composure which facilitated quick effective decision-making and provided comfort and support to the victim,” the statement further added. The tragic incident happened two weeks before Lisa’s 30th birthday party.
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