Woman charged after pushing 3-year-old child onto train tracks
A woman was arrested and charged for allegedly pushing a 3-year-old girl “face-first” onto the train tracks at Gateway Transit Center MAX platform in Northeast Portland, Oregon on Wednesday (Dec. 28).
In the security footage obtained by Oregon Live, a mother and child were waiting for the train when Brianna Lace Workman, 32, suddenly stood up from a bench and shoved the little girl forward then sat back down. Although she hit her head on the rail, the 3-year-old immediately got up and reached for a good samaritan who jumped up to her rescue. According to authorities, the toddler did nothing to provoke the attack.
“The child landed face-first onto the metal rail and rocks before being quickly rescued from the train tracks,” Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt said in a statement. “The child reported a severe headache and had a small red mark on their forehead after the incident,” the district attorney continued.
Workman, who is listed as homeless, was arraigned on Thursday (Dec. 28) and charged with attempted assault in the first degree, assault in the third degree, interfering with public transportation, disorderly conduct in the second degree and recklessly endangering another person. “The Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office has filed charges, including an offense for which Oregon law permits pretrial detention, and is requesting that Workman remain in custody and be held without bail,” Schmidt continued. “A charging document is only an accusation of a crime. Workman is innocent unless and until proven guilty,” Schmidt added.
According to the National Safety Council, there were about 893 railroad deaths in the United States in 2021, a 20 percent increase from the 2020 revised total of 744 and the highest since 2007. Nonfatal injuries totaled 5,781, a 4 percent increase from the 2020 revised total of 5,544. From 2020 to 2021, fatalities at highway-rail crossings increased by 21 percent.
