Atlanta

Woman describes terrifying moments after being split from son by MARTA train

ATLANTA — A mother is sharing her story about how she was temporarily separated from her son by closing MARTA train doors.

Nadine Brown told Channel 2’s Matt Johnson that she is used to traveling via MARTA with her children but Saturday night she said her train started moving while her son stood on the platform without her.

When Brown looks back on the night she said she knows it could have been much worse.

“It happens all the time, kids gets snatched up,” Brown said.

She and her son Jared were with friends coming home from Monster Jam at the Georgia Dome Saturday at around 10:30 p.m.

First Jared and his 9-year-old friend got off the train at the Dunwoody MARTA station.

“By the time we could step off behind them, the doors started closing,” Brown told Johnson.

Then train started moving and the boys' parents weren't able to get to them.

“The doors closed… like we couldn’t stop them from closing. So we started panicking and just screaming,” Brown said.

“As soon as we got off, the doors closed and me and my friend were the only ones there and the train just took off,” Jared said.

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Jared said he and his friend were by themselves.

“We just hugged tightly,” Jared told Johnson.

Meanwhile his mom said no one knew how to get the attention of the train's operator.

She said she frantically got off at the next stop and came back to find that MARTA police and a stranger were waiting with her son.

“For those 20 minutes it felt like a lifetime because I didn’t know what was going on with children,” Brown said. That was very dangerous anything could have happened.”

“Then that train came back and I saw my family again,” Jared said.

A MARTA representative sent Johnson a statement about the incident that said:

"MARTA continues to be the safest mode of transportation across the region. At this time, we have determined that our equipment operated properly. We are pleased that our officers responded quickly and were able to reunite these passengers."