PHILADELPHIA -- A 19-year-old Bristol man was fatally struck by a SEPTA train late Tuesday in Middletown Township, police said. Michael Sobon was the second person killed by a SEPTA train in the last week in the Philadelphia suburbs.
Cheltenham Township police yesterday identified the 16-year-old girl killed Sunday night near the R8 Lawndale station as Colleen Smith, of Tabor Avenue in Northeast Philadelphia. Smith was to be a junior at Cardinal Dougherty High School next month.
There have been 17 people killed on SEPTA tracks since the beginning of 2006, said Gary Fairfax, a SEPTA spokesman.
"The greatest tragedy is when this involves teens and children," said SEPTA spokesman Richard Maloney, who added that accidental train deaths frequently happened in "clusters." "The effect on their communities and families is incalculable, as well as to our employees and passengers."
Both victims were hanging out with friends shortly before the accidents, police said. On Tuesday, Sobon was sitting on the tracks when he was struck by the R3 West Trenton train about 10:25 p.m., Middletown Police Officer Michael Lubold said.
Sobon had been with a few friends behind a house on nearby Virginia Avenue and left to talk on his cell phone, Lubold said.
Meanwhile, the R3 train was making its second-to-last stop at the Langhorne station just minutes away, and began traveling west, Lubold said.
The engineer told police that he first thought there was debris on the tracks and that he applied the emergency brake. When the train came within 300 feet of Sobon, the engineer noticed him and blew the train's horn.
Initially, Sobon did not move. When he tried to move, it was too late. The engineer told police he believed Sobon was on his cell phone at the time.
Police have ruled out suicide, Lubold said, but will await a toxicology report after his autopsy, scheduled for today.
Sobon was living with his brother, Edward, in Bristol, said his mother, Margaret Linnehan.
"He was a nice kid, and he was well-liked," she said from her home in Cherry Hill. "He's my baby, and he's gone."
Sunday night's accident in Cheltenham Township had similar circumstances. Smith was with friends along the railroad tracks, which border Northeast Philadelphia, near the area of Comly Street and Newtown Avenue, and left the group to get a ride home, Lt. Joseph Gruver said.
The R8 Fox Chase train, on its last run, was heading south and coming around a sweeping right turn when it struck Smith, who has heading north, two witnesses told police.
About 100 students held a vigil outside Smith's home Monday night. She was a member of the volleyball and softball teams, and the response to her death has been "overwhelming," her father, Brian, said.
A greeting period for Smith's family and friends will be held from 9 to 11 a.m. today at St. Matthew Roman Catholic Church at Cottman Avenue and Battersby Street in Northeast Philadelphia, followed by a Funeral Mass.
(The preceding article by Nick Pipitone was published August 7, 2008, by The Philadelphia Inquirer.)
