Police: Burlington woman threw girl, 5, onto train tracks

A 20-year-old woman grabbed an unsuspecting 5-year-old girl away from her mother at the NJ Transit Light Rail station in Burlington on Friday night and threw her onto the tracks as a train was approaching the station, police alleged this weekend.

Authorities managed to stop the train before it reached the girl, and the mother's boyfriend safely removed the girl from the tracks, Burlington Police said in a news release.

The woman, identified by police as Autumn Matacchiera, of Hainesport, was arrested and charged with attempted murder. Police said she did not know the girl or her family and they did not say why she allegedly grabbed and threw the child. Matacchiera was taken to Lourdes Medical Center for a psychiatric evaluation.