On September 27, Riviera Beach resident Nico Edwards guided a senior off the railroad tracks after the man's walker stuck, with a Brightline train already coming.
At the Blue Heron Boulevard and President Barack Obama Highway intersection, Edwards heard horns and saw the man trying to cross, according to WPBF. He got the senior under the crossing-gate arms just before the train arrived.
Under the Gate, Without a Name
Edwards said he did not know the senior. Asked if he knew the man's name, he told WPBF, "No." The account does not give the man's age, any injuries, or his own version of the crossing. Edwards has also said people should help even when they do not know the person in front of them. On this day, that was the whole relationship on record.
A Birthday Stopped at the Sand
The family was celebrating his son's 11th birthday. Edwards and his son had taken 8-month-old Nova, their puppy, to Singer Island, and a lifeguard asked them to leave because the dog was not allowed on the beach. The reporting does not put the puppy at the tracks, and it does not treat the beach rule as the reason they were at the crossing. It does put a shortened beach stop and a trackside rescue on the same day.
A Death Toll Beside a Safety Announcement
The near-miss sits next to a documented toll. Miami New Times reported that a WLRN and Miami Herald investigation found 182 people killed by Brightline trains since test runs began in 2017. That account also quotes the Associated Press describing Brightline as the deadliest train system per mile in America.
In August 2022, Brightline announced a federally funded $45 million project to build at least 33 miles of pedestrian-protection features and supplemental safety measures, Miami New Times reported. The announcement, as relayed there, does not name Blue Heron Boulevard. The September 27 account describes no new hardware at the crossing — only Edwards, the gate arms, and a walker that would not clear the rails.
Other Crossings, Other Seconds
Florida has produced similar scrambles. In Hobe Sound, 23-year-old Josiah Baur lifted a crossing barrier so Debbie Spoelstra could reverse her car after a gate came down on it, FOX 5 New York reported. The two met again at the railway crossing days later. On November 8, 2021, a Brightline train running between West Palm Beach and Miami struck a woman and her grandchild as they drove across tracks in Pompano Beach; Miami New Times reported that they sustained minor injuries.
Edwards's senior does not get that kind of named follow-up. The reporting leaves him unidentified, off the tracks, and out from under the gate before the train arrived.
