Toddler killed in W. Philly trolley crash

A MOTHER'S frantic cries echoed down a busy West Philly street Thursday.

"My baby!" she screamed as she chased down a SEPTA trolley. "My baby!"

But it was too late for her son, a 2-year-old run down by the trolley Thursday near the corner of Lancaster Avenue near 51st Street.

The boy, who remained unidentified Thursday night, was struck just before 1 p.m., police said. Preliminary evidence indicated he had broken away from his parents and darted in front of a Route 10 trolley as it barreled west on Lancaster Avenue.

Witnesses said the trolley's operator honked the horn and tried desperately to slow down, to no avail.

The trolley struck the boy near the intersection, and dragged him a few yards before stopping near the corner of Paxon Street and Lancaster Avenue.

There, rescue crews worked desperately to free the boy, who had gotten stuck underneath the vehicle, police said.

Medics pronounced him dead at the scene at 1:42 p.m.

"It all happened so fast; it was a blur," Antoine Gardener said Thursday night as he stood feet from where the trolley came to rest.

"I can't imagine what the family is going through now."

Gardener was walking out of Home Max, the building-supply store he owns, when he saw the trolley skid to a halt literally outside his front doorstep.

He heard the desperate wailing coming from down the block, but didn't understand what had happened.

Then, he spotted the boy trapped behind the trolley's front wheels.

"He looked like a rag doll," Gardener said. "It was like our hands were tied; we wanted to help the kid, but there was nothing we could do."

So he stood, frozen, as the boy's mother ran up to the trolley, followed closely by the boy's father.

Gardener said the couple were visiting a family that had recently moved to that stretch of Lancaster Avenue, a few doors down from his business.

The crash happened as the family was apparently trying to cross the street, he said: One parent had reached the other side of the street, while the other lagged behind. The boy darted in front of the trolley while trying to catch up to the parent who had reached the other side.

There was no answer Thursday night at the home the couple had been visiting. A neighbor Thursday night said the family remained at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, where the boy's body was taken after the crash.

Accident investigators from the police department are investigating the crash, and will review surveillance footage from the trolley, as well as a statement from its operator, a SEPTA spokesman said last night.