COLUMBIA, S.C. — The mother of a 22-year-old woman who was killed by an Amtrak train in South Carolina says she does not want her daughter's death to be in vain and will push for greater railway safety.
Ziccarra Coker's daughter, Tiasia Newton, was one of three people killed when an Amtrak train crashed into an SUV in North Charleston on Oct. 30.
Coker said she believes a faulty railway crossing gate is to blame for the deadly crash, though she would not elaborate on why she believes that to be true. She said she does not believe the driver of the SUV, who was injured but not killed, drove around the railway crossing gates into the path of the train.
An investigation into the crash is ongoing, and few details have been provided by officials.
North Charleston Police spokesman Harve Jacobs declined to comment on Coker's assertion, saying only the investigation is continuing. An Amtrak spokesperson also declined to comment.
Also killed were Charleston residents Danielle Branton, 29, and Reshana Lambright, 32, the Charleston County Coroner's Office announced last week. The three passengers died at the scene of blunt force trauma.
The driver of the car, whose birthday was the next day, remains hospitalized.
The collision happened around 2:30 a.m. The car was so heavily damaged firefighters could not initially tell what it was, but they believed it was a Nissan SUV.
The train was Amtrak's auto train, which goes from Lorton, Virginia, to Sanford, Florida. It does not stop in South Carolina.
Amtrak spokeswoman Kimberly Woods said in an email, "The North Charleston Police Department is investigating the incident. Amtrak is cooperating with the investigation."
She was asked for an update on the company's investigation and to comment on Coker's comments. Woods also declined to answer how fast the train was traveling, the posted speed limit, and if the lights and bars were working.
Coker said she believes the lights and bars did not work properly. She declined to elaborate.
Coker said her daughter and the others in the vehicle had been to a local club and were on the way home. Her daughter lives not far from that railroad crossing.
Newton grew up in Syracuse, New York, and Spartanburg and had recently moved to Charleston with her 2-year-old son, Diamontre, and boyfriend, Coker said.
Coker said she had talked with Tiasia the night before the accident. Coker, a nurse, was on her way home to Spartanburg from working in a COVID-screening clinic in western North Carolina when her daughter FaceTimed her with a tour of Newton's new home.
Newton was joyous over the house with its beautiful backyard for her baby and because she had just gotten a new job, Coker said.
"Oh, her smile. She just had a genuine, genuine spirit, no matter what she was going through," Coker said.
Her daughter would have been 23 on Nov. 17.
Coker said she intends to fight for upgrades in railway safety.
"I'm heartbroken, but I don't want her death to be in vain," she said.
