An Orange resident who attended Amity Regional High School was killed when a Metro-North train hit him last Tuesday.
Brian D’Orso, 16, lived in the northwest part of Orange. He was reportedly searching for golf balls from the nearby Great River Country Club.
Metro-North spokesman Dan Brucker said that the train’s engineer and another crew member saw the boy on the tracks around 11 a.m. They blew the horn and tried to stop in order to avoid hitting him.
The commuter train was carrying fifteen passengers and was headed toward Waterbury from Bridgeport.
Police said the victim left his bicyle nearby and was walking along the track when he was hit.
“The conductor said he observed the victim on the tracks and sounded a horn, but was not able to stop,” said Assistant Police Chief Mark Greco.
Passenger Herman DiFigueroa, 21, of Danbury, said, “We felt a little bump, then the train stopped.”
He said that there was no way to tell what was happening while the train was still moving.
The passengers exited the train after an hour, most with briefcases.
“All we could smell was burning leaves and the brakes,” said one passenger.
The identity of the victim was not immediately known and, as a result, many residents of Orange went into a panic. Parents reportedly started a telephone chain to see if any of their children were missing.
Amity and other area schools were closed last Tuesday for Election Day and many teenagers were outside.
Some residents said that it is not uncommon for kids to walk along the train tracks or to use all-terrain vehicles along the railroad’s right-of-way.
Residents also said that the flight paths of planes at Sikorsky Airport can block out the noise from the trains.
The town of Orange mourned the death of one of their own residents.
“He was the most wonderful kid,” said one resident.
Superintendent of Schools Helene Skrzyniarz said, “It is a very tragic loss for the entire Amity community.”
Residents are upset for another reason, too. Some believe that the train tracks are too accessible.
“The kids can get to those tracks very easily….What bothers me is that nobody ever built a fence,” said Marlene Moses, an Orange resident.