POMPANO BEACH, Fla. – The father of a 1-year-old boy involved in a Brightline train crash Monday in Pompano Beach said young Carson struggled throughout the night.
“Actually, everybody is going through it — mentally and physically,” the dad said. “It was a long night. He couldn’t sleep. I think he was probably going through a lot of pain.”
The baby was in the backseat of a car being driven by his 71-year-old grandmother. Somehow, she turned onto the tracks instead of the road just north of Atlantic Boulevard and North Dixie Highway just as a southbound Brightline train was approaching.
It was the first day Brightline’s higher-speed trains were back in service since early in the COVID-19 pandemic. The private company’s president was among 53 passengers on the train, headed to an event to celebrate Brightline’s return. Nobody on the train was hurt in the collision.
Officials say the grandmother tried to drive the car off the tracks but couldn’t in time. However, she and her grandson survived.
“For her to get out of this thing and my son’s alive, wow, I don’t even know what or how to call it,” the boy’s father said.
Witnesses are even calling it a miracle, considering how badly the car was damaged in the collision caught on surveillance video.
Little Carson has a scratch on his forehead but is otherwise OK.
His grandmother broke a bone.
The physical injuries will heal, but the mental trauma of surviving this train nightmare will likely take much longer to get over.
“I’m happy that he’s alive,” the father said. “That’s physically all I can say.”