Hero used body to shield 12-year-old girl from passing train, saving her life, family says
The child’s grandmother called her survival ‘a true miracle’
An Ohio man is being hailed as a “hero” after he died in a tragic train accident while shielding a 12-year-old girl, according to reports.
The incident happened Friday night in Marion as 12-year-old McKenna Whitted and longtime family friend Dalton McMillen, 33, were walking near railroad tracks on their way to a nearby store to buy candy.
Whitted told her grandmother, Angel Franklin, that McMillen, a father of a 10-year-old boy, used his body to shield her after they were both pulled under a passing train, according it WSYX. The train reportedly caught McMillen’s jacket and pulled him away, killing him.
“It’s a true miracle she’s here,” Franklin said about her granddaughter, who was severely injured in the accident and is recovering at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. “It’s still a little touch and go with the brain bleed and the concussion, but it looks promising.
“She wouldn’t be alive if it wasn’t for him. He was just an amazing person,” Jeremiah Haile, McMillen’s roommate, added.
Franklin and Haile have urged others to show more caution around railroad tracks in the future, especially after the crossing gates come down.
“It’s not worth it, just to save some minutes to get home. It’s not worth it. I’m afraid of trains now,” Franklin told WSYX.
Friends and family have since created separate GoFundMe campaigns for Whitted’s medical expenses, as well as McMillien’s funeral costs.
“My brother Dalton McMillen died admirably and is a true hero for laying his life down to save a child,” Holly Wheeler-McMillen wrote. The campaign has raised more than $2,500 as of Wednesday,
Meanwhile, Jovi Whitted, McKenna’s mom, described her daughter as “the most spunkiest (sic) funniest kid u will meet full of life.”
“She needs a good support team and friends and family to be with her,” Jovi Whitted added. The campaign has raised more than $600 as of Wednesday.
The incident remains under investigation.
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