‘Worst nightmare’: Rising-star journalist dies in freak train accident

A rising-star TV journalist has been struck and killed by a train in a freak accident, leaving her family calling for change.

A rising-star US TV journalist was struck and killed by a train during a freak accident – prompting her heartbroken parents to demand better rail safety at the popular transit hub.

Grace Bentkowski, 22 – a newly-hired creative producer for cable news network NewsNation – was crossing ground-level tracks with a group of other commuters at Hegewisch South Shore station in Chicago on July 25, when a train leaving the platform suddenly ploughed into her, according to WGN 9.

“It’s the worst nightmare ever,” her devastated dad Phil Bentkowski told the outlet.

“[There was] no noise, no nothing. From the video all you hear is a thud. Then the engineer blows a horn.”

In order to reach a parking lot at the station, riders must walk over the tracks – but Mr Bentkowski who reviewed footage of the accident said the train failed to sound its whistle as the young journalist walked toward the lot, the New York Post reports.

His daughter’s view also appeared to be obstructed by a large concrete pillar, he said.

She was recently hired by NewsNation as a producer. Picture: Instagram/Grace Bentkowski

TV journalist Grace Bentkowski was struck by a train at a station in Chicago. Picture: Instagram/Grace Bentkowski

Grace Bentkowski, a recent Ball State University graduate, had just left work and planned to do some shopping before heading to her home in Dyer, Indiana when tragedy struck.

Mr Bentkowski said he was alerted by police officer that his daughter had been taken into emergency surgery at the University of Chicago Medical Center – so he rushed to the hospital with his wife and son.

After hours of waiting, her family was told she had died.

“My initial thought was ‘That’s not possible.’ I was under the assumption that if you were hit by a train leaving the station, obviously it wouldn’t be that fast and worst case was maybe a broken leg,” Mr Bentkowski said.

But the shocking impact “threw her 50 feet” and caused internal injuries, he said.

Mr Bentkowski said his daughter was not wearing headphones and was not on her phone when she was hit.

“Her phone wasn’t damaged, she wasn’t on it and had her AirPods in her purse,” he said. “The only thing in her hand was her car keys.”

The young journalist was the only person struck by the train.

Bentkowski had just graduated from Ball State University in May. Picture: Facebook/Grace Bentkowski

The Bentkowski family is now on a mission to improve the potentially dangerous conditions at the station.

“It’s such a safety issue, this is 2024,” Mr Bentkowski said.

“I don’t understand why there aren’t ‘stop, look, listen’ safety signs – it makes no sense.”

According to her Instagram account, Grace first worked as an intern for NewsNation, covering Indiana’s local elections last year. She was hired as an associate creative producer after she graduated from college about four months ago.

“I’m incredibly happy,” she wrote in a post announcing she’d been hired in May.

Her grandmother Maryann O’Neill said Grace knew from an early age news was her passion.

“She was beautiful inside and out,” Ms O’Neill told WGN 9.

“She knew what she wanted to do in life and it was the news.”

Her brother Adian has since launched a GoFundMe page describing how he’d lost his “best friend” and his parents “lost their precious baby girl.”

“Grace touched many people’s lives at the young age of 22. She was a striving journalist and the hardest worker there is,” he wrote.

“She managed to make such a big impact at 22 years old, and I wish we could’ve had her here longer.”

Commuters must cross the tracks at the Hegewisch South Shore station to get to a parking lot. Picture: Google Maps

As of Wednesday, the GoFundMe page had raised more than $US27,000 ($A40,900) to pay for her cremation and other expenses.

“Grace Bentkowski was a rising star at NewsNation,” the network told The Post in a statement.

“Her passion for journalism and eagerness to learn the ropes was infectious and her willingness to jump in and learn the TV news business was inspiring to her colleagues. Grace was one of those rare people who brought light into any room in which she entered.

“We are heartbroken for her loved ones and family, and she will never be far from our hearts,” the network said.

The South Shore train line said it now plans to add interim warning signs at the station and is “reaching out to an engineering firm to determine what it will take to add active warning to the pedestrian crossings.”

It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the accident, but reps for the transit agency said the incident is under investigation.

This article originally appeared in the New York Post and has been reproduced with permission.