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May 7, 2008 7:46 pm US/Eastern
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NJ Toddler Wanders Away From Home Along RR Tracks
Good Samaritan Grabs 2-Year-Old From Street
Reporting
Cindy Hsu
ELMWOOD PARK, N.J. (CBS) ―
A little girl is lucky to be alive Wednesday night, after wandering away from her Paterson home and ending up nearly a mile away in a neighboring city. CBS 2 has the little girl's frightening journey and introduces us to the Good Samaritan who found her clutching at her teddy bear.
Tony Claudio is hugging his daughter Lily tighter than ever today, after she walked out the front door of their home on Monday night. Her grandparents were babysitting, but were helping her older sisters with homework when they realized she was missing. Lily's parents rushed home and called police.
"I ran every corner of this neighborhood screaming my daughter's name, every where I went there was someone out helping me," said Tony Claudio, Lily's father.
It turns out Lily walked down the street and onto nearby active train tracks that freight trains travel about 4 times a day. According to authorities, she kept on walking, crossing over route 20 on the train trestle.
She then crossed the Passaic River along the train line and ended up in Elmwood Park at a railroad crossing, a little less than a mile from her home. Victor Cortez was driving by with his family and saw her in the middle of the street.
"The teddy bear dropped, she turned around to grab the teddy bear and cars were going this way...going that way. She was right in the middle of traffic," said Good Samaritan Victor Cortez.
His wife grabbed Lily while he called 911.
Operator: "911, what's your emergency?"
Cortez: "I was on my way home on River Road, heading towards Garfield. I found a little girl crossing on the street, walking on the railroad tracks by herself."
Police say it's a miracle she made it at all.
"Lot of animals back there, rats along that course. It's a dirty, filthy area, easily you can fall off that, even an adult would have a hard time walking along those railroad tracks," said Police Chief Don Ingrasselino.
"I'm going to get all sorts of fences and I don't know, maybe a doggie collar for her. I don't know what to do but as a parent this is not something you want to happen but it's something that happened and now I need to correct it and not ever let it happen again," said Claudio.
Claudio told CBS 2 that he made a lot of deals with God that day, and he won't waste a minute of his second chance with Lily.
According to police, no charges will be filed. Claudio said he is incredibly thankful to police, his neighbors and especially the Good Samaritan who found his little girl. He's looking forward to thanking him in person.
(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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