By Brian McLaughlin
Kevin Brown, 10, was riding his bike with a group of about seven friends near the Long Island Rail Road tracks in the wooded area behind Leaman Place Sunday evening. Brown accidentally touched the third rail around 6:10 p.m. and was electrocuted.
Metropolitan Transit Authority Det. Lt. Timothy Horman reported that Brown came in contact with the third rail when he stepped off his bicycle and his leg touched the rail. However, according to Lynbrook police, one of the witnesses reported that Brown was electrocuted while retrieving an object thrown onto the tracks by one of his friends. The rail carries a charge of 660 volts.
As Brown remained stuck on the rail, his friends ran frantically towards the backyards of the houses that lined the wooded area, yelling for help. After hearing her brother say several boys were screaming for help, Kaitie Niessing, 16, one of the block's residents, quickly called 911 while her father, John Niessing, and neighbor, Rich Lanzelotti, rushed over to the tracks to aid the boy. John Niessing said Brown was still up against the rail, already unconscious. Lanzelotti was reluctant to move the boy at first.
"I thought he might've been hit by a train and I didn't know if he had broken bones," said Lanzelotti.
Once he and John realized that Brown was being electrocuted they knew they had to move him off the track but understood that if they came in direct contact with the boy, they would be electrified as well.
Lynbrook Police Officer Christopher McCarthy was the first responding officer on the scene, arriving around 6:15 p.m. McCarthy was soon joined by Lynbrook Police Officer Steve Tackas, and the officers aided Niessing and Lanzelotti in using a tree branch to push Brown free of the third rail. McCarthy then began performing CPR on the boy as he waited for an ambulance. McCarthy also contacted the MTA immediately to tell them to shut down the line.
Law enforcement officers and emergency medical teams from Lynbrook, Nassau County and the MTA were soon on the scene. Paramedics quickly came to the aid of Brown, but, according to Niessing, the boy remained unconscious until he was taken to Mercy Medical Center in Rockville Centre. Brown was pronounced dead on arrival at Mercy at about 6:20 p.m.
The site of the accident was taped off for hours by crime scene investigators, and the railroad line, line one, running from Babylon to Pennsylvania Station, was closed for about an hour, until 7:30 p.m.
Several of the children playing with Brown were taken to South Nassau Communities Hospital for reevaluation, while others remained at the scene to talk to crime scene investigators.
"This is something that shouldn't have happened," said a grim Lanzelotti. "Kids should not have access to these tracks."
But at the site of Brown's tragic death, the tracks are actually very accessible. They are raised only a few feet off the ground and are blocked only by a pair of metal rails, which are easily climbable. There are also no signs warning of high voltage or other dangers associated with the railroad tracks.
"There's no protection there," said mourning mother Nancy Brown. "I just don't understand why something hasn't been done to protect children from that place."
Leaman Street residents have shared concern for the danger the train tracks running behind their homes pose for many years now. On Aug. 8, 1994, two teenagers, Michael Sangimino of Lynbrook and Stephanie Ginis of Garden City, were killed when they were struck by a train while sitting on the tracks that evening. The site of their fatal accident was barely 50 yards away from where Kevin was electrocuted four days ago. Local residents also said there was another child who died on the tracks in the early 1980s, although the Herald was unable to confirm this incident as of press time.
"After this [accident], they cannot still say that there is no need for a fence," said Leaman Street resident Lois Rothenberg.
At a Lynbrook village meeting held the night after Kevin's death, Mayor Eugene Scarpato assured residents that the village would pressure the LIRR to make the area safer. In the meantime, Scarpato told village residents to "talk to your children and educate them about how dangerous the train tracks can be. After all, you can't watch them all the time."
Nancy described her son as a selfless and funny child.
"Kevin would do anything for anyone," she said. "He would give his own toys and games away to his friends."
Kevin, who attended William L. Buck School in Valley Stream, was an avid baseball fan and excelled at the sport on his Little League team.
"He loved the Mets," said Nancy. "We even took him to see them play in the World Series two years ago."
Although the loss of her son is unbearable, Nancy wants to keep Kevin's memory alive.
He was everything to me," she said. "[I] want to tell people what kind of a great kid Kevin was."
A funeral for Kevin will be held at Holy Name of Mary Church in Valley Stream at 10:30 a.m. on Friday. Following the funeral mass, at 12:30 p.m., counselors will be available for those affected by the tragedy at the William L. Buck School, located on Horton Avenue in Valley Stream.
- Cindy J. Roth contributed to this story.
