POTEAU (KFSM) -- Four people were killed and one person was injured when a train hit a car in Poteau Sunday (Aug. 7), according to Poteau Assistant Police Chief Greg Russell.
Around 1:30 p.m. April Goines, 37, was driving a Chevy Malibu going east on Dewey Ave. when a train traveling north crashed into her car, according to a Poteau Police Department press release.
Goines and three male juveniles were killed in the crash. One surviving female juvenile was taken by medical helicopter to a Tulsa area hospital.
The three children who were killed were all students in the Panama School District.
First responders said the warning signals were active when they arrived at the scene of the accident.
One neighbor said she ran outside when she heard the crash.
"I heard a crash and the train stopped, and the neighbor came out and I told her someone needs to call 911," Sharon Sherman said. "I went in the house and called 911, came back, and she went across to the train."
There are no cross bars at this railroad crossing and residents said they often see people trying to beat the train across the tracks.
"When the train comes and the lights are flashing, they hurry up and try to cross it," Sherman said. "A car almost got run over the other day. But, they outrun the train all the time."
Neighbor Sonja Thomas said cross bars need to be put in at the crossing.
"The red lights are on, but people respond better to the arms, because they won't go around that," Thomas said. "Some of them think they might be able to beat [the train], but they can't so that's why things like this happen."