8-Year-Old Girl Crushed By Train After Mom Ordered Her To Crawl Under It

Her brother went under the train first, and Joy Frances Collins allegedly urged her daughter to “hurry up” and go under the train.

December 19, 2018

Joy Frances Collins [Fresco Police]

By: Catherine Townsend

FRESO, CA — A 44-year-old California mother has been arrested in connection with her eight-year-old daughter’s death after she allegedly instructed the girl to crawl underneath a train in order to catch her school bus.

Fresno police arrested Joy Frances Collins, 44, on suspicion of child neglect likely to cause great bodily injury or death.

Her daughter Joyanna Harris died after crawling under the freight train on Monday evening with her nine-year-old brother, according to Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer.

Her brother went under the train first, and Collins allegedly urged her daughter to “hurry up” and go under the train that was blocking the family's access to the stop, according to police.

The train, which had stopped for a few seconds, started moving again while Joyanna was underneath.

Joyanna was dragged around 500 feet. Collins ran beside the train and finally managed to pull out her daughter’s body.

Dyer said Joyanna was critically injured and partially dismembered.

“A mother placed her daughter in a position where she could be seriously injured or killed, and that’s what we have to look at,” Dyer told reporters. “We have a responsibility to hold that person accountable.”

Dyer said at a press conference that Collins had endangered her children in a similar fashion “at least seven times” previously, according to The Fresno Bee.

Collins was booked into the Fresno County Jail, but she was released from custody after posting bail.

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