Female struck by train south of Edmonds

A female walking with friends on railroad tracks six miles south of Edmonds was struck by a Sounder train just after 6 p.m. Tuesday and was taken to Harborview Medical Center.

Sound Transit spokesperson Geoff Patrick said that a northbound Sounder train “came upon four trespassers on the track” –  three males and one female. “The train operator began applying the brakes and sounding the horn. The female trespasser did not get out of the way in time and was struck, thankfully at a reduced speed,” Patrick said.

The train was delayed 50 minutes while police conducted an initial investigation, and investigative work is continuing, he added.

According to Fire District No. 1 spokesperson Leslie Hynes, Edmonds paramedics responded to the Edmonds train depot, where the train had brought the female to meet paramedics so she could be transported to Harborview.

My Edmonds News online partner The Seattle Times reported via AP that the female who was struck was a teenager, and that her injuries were not life-threatening. More information on that report is here.

  1. The woman was not a teenager, she was in her late 20’s according to her boyfriend and brother who were two of the other three parties that were with her. They were not “a group of teenagers throwing rocks” as the AP story suggests. They were intoxicated and the woman was just standing there in the tracks facing away from the train as the it slowed and blew it’s horn.

    At the last moment, she tried to walk forward – still along the tracks though – away from the train and stumbled. The train hit her in the posterior which tossed her down about an 8′ embankment into puget sound where her boyfriend and others rescued her and placed her onto the train for transport to Edmonds where emergency crews were waiting.

    The boyfriend was shouting obscenities at the train personnel, angry that they had not stopped the train before hitting her.

    The woman had a few cuts from the fall and smelled heavily of alcohol as passengers and crew attempted first aid on the train.

    A medical technician as well as the woman’s parole officer were among the passengers on the train who were helping her.

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