FRESNO, CA (KMJ) – Neglect charges are filed against the mother who ordered her 8-year-old daughter to cross train tracks.
Fresno Police say that caused the child, identified as Joyanna Harris, was killed by a train Monday, in Central Fresno.
Earlier, Joyanna had been playing with a group of kids near the tracks at Diana and Belmont.
As she had done many times before, Joyanna’s mother, Joy, told her to hurry and cross – this time so they wouldn’t be late for the bus to return to their home on the Westside.
Collins told both her children, Joyanna and her 9-year-old brother to go quick between the cars.
During the press briefing on Tuesday, Dyer said Collins said there were about seven other times that she had directed her children to cross the track by crawling under the train carriage or over it.
The train had been stopped for only 12 seconds on the tracks before it lurched forward.
When the train started to take off, Joyanna was caught, and dragged about a 500 feet.
Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer says they received a 9-1-1 call about a little girl, deceased by the train.
Officers arrived to find she had been dismembered.
Investigators have charged her mother 44-year-old Joy Collins with child neglect likely to cause great bodily injury or death.
Collins faces two other charges of misdemeanor trespassing on railroad property
Chief Dyer says she has bailed out of jail.
Dyer said she had prior contacts with Child Protective Services, and also had a past criminal history in the Bay Area, for forgery and check fraud.
Chief dyer said the police offered condolences to her but that they had to arrest her.
Click to listen to the reports by KMJ’S Liz Kern:
