Sounder train hits, kills pedestrian in Puyallup
PUYALLUP, Wash. -- A pedestrian was killed Wednesday night after being hit by a train in Puyallup.
Police say the woman, who is believed to be in her 30s, was walking across the tracks at 15th Street SE and East Pioneer Street and was hit by a Sounder train carrying 250 passengers.
Witnesses told police the woman did not attempt to avoid the train.
The train was briefly held at the scene, but has since been allowed to continue. The passengers were picked up by buses. Vehicle traffic is being rerouted around the crash site.
Police are investigating the incident as a suicide.
Police say the woman, who is believed to be in her 30s, was walking across the tracks at 15th Street SE and East Pioneer Street and was hit by a Sounder train carrying 250 passengers.
Witnesses told police the woman did not attempt to avoid the train.
The train was briefly held at the scene, but has since been allowed to continue. The passengers were picked up by buses. Vehicle traffic is being rerouted around the crash site.
Police are investigating the incident as a suicide.
Public suicide farms. Way the heck out in the countryside.
Free shuttle service, NO AUDIENCE, no news coverage, and most importantly - no innocents involved. With your favorite choice of music blaring in the background.
Tired of hearing about what is (as mentioned below) a hugely selfish act, regardless of the individual circumstances.
We were on a train once that was very delayed due to a suicide by train episode in Calif. It ties up the tracks forever. I guess they are trained to look for both potential suicides and idiots -- but it's not like they can swerve or even stop in a timely fashion. It traumatizes the crew and there is really not much of an excuse for the person who is hit. I don't care if it is suicide actually, do it in such a way that it impacts (as it were) nobody but yourself and maybe your loved ones. It's common for kids to think they can outwit/outrun the train too, they look for that. From what we were told, police are notified when people do unsafe type things on the tracks and the crew witnesses it.
Not to be insensitive but we're not responsible to ensure other people won't off themselves, if that's what happened. We're also not responsible to protect people from themselves if the people are of sound mind and all of that. If you think about it, probably most people getting hit by a train are a suicide one way or the other, it's not that difficult to avoid a train. In this situation I feel sorry for the engineer, the crew, the people on the train, the people that were affected by traffic, and the people who had to deal with it. The person who got hit? 100% selfishness.
I was on the train. The automated announcer called out "Approaching Puyallup Station", just like it has for the past 12 years.  I gathered my things and made my way downstairs.  Coming down the first flight of stairs, I decided to not try to fight the usual jostling that makes you look like you've had one to many.  As I went to sit down in a rear-facing seat, I was thrown backwards into the seat.  That must have been when the now horrified and now traumatized engineer attempted to stop the 7,000 ton(?) train ...from 75 to zero ...in 500 ft.  Your car would be challenged to do stop in that distance.  I'm not sure which of the next jolts I felt was the woman impacting the front coupler on the engine, but it was one of them.  Unsettling for all of us on the train to realize what we feared had happened actually had.  Over the years I've been on the train when it has had to stop for losing power, a tree falling across the tracks, a house getting stuck moving across the tracks, flooding, but never hitting and killing a human.  The Puyallup Police are treating this as a suicide.  Can we please follow their lead and cease the Darwin-esque comments. I unwittingly played a part in this woman's last act of desperation and sheer hopelessness, the last seconds of her life.  She was a daughter to someone, could have been a mom, sister, wife, girlfriend.  No matter how much you are tempted to rant about the frivolity of this article's grammar, the clear stupidity of some humans, keeping some kind of sick score, a woman's life ended tonight.  If you're going to take the time to write/post something, how about contributing to this bad-news-ridden world we live in.  Who knows, someone else contemplating suicide might just be reading your crass comments and coming to the conclusion that their life doesn't matter either; look how heartless people are.  How about you jump over to the sports page and rant on one of the neanderthal meat-head players over there ...making $25 million a year, and why they don't do more with charities instead of $2 million golden thrones for their birthday party.  Now there's something rant about.  We've all become to detached from the human aspect of these news stories.  Before you write your next post about a serious topic story like this, take a minute, visualize the story, the variables, possibilities, and parties involved/impacted, then post.  Again, how about we all follow the Puyallup Police department's assessment of the situation and treat this a suicide.  They were there, inspecting the impact site, the front of the engine, and walking with the Sound Transit conductor I saw with a flashlight looking for the woman's personal effects along the tracks.  Enormous amounts of candor and respect should be expressed here.  As I say, go over to one of Lance Armstrong's stories or the stories about drug-using baseball players trying to get into the Hall of Fame and rant away to your heart's content there!  Disappointing public comments on the whole.  I'll be spending some time trying to digest what tonight's events mean in my life, and all the threads connected to the tragic event.  Peace and long life, Aavloke.  PS - a big thank you to KOMO for picking up the story at all, unlike the other news stations.  And for the comprehensive community-based content they take the time to produce.
@Aavloke Most cars will do it in less than 200 feet, just fyi.
Komo, can you please clean-up your webservers. They have been attempting to serve up malware for more than a week. For those of us with AV, it is being blocked for the rest, well, hope you all change your passwords and get AV ASAP!
The report is a little off. The train was held for the investigation for almost two hours. The train that was unloaded and transported via bus was the Sounder that was coming after the one that was involved in the incident.
Guess we need a background check for trains, as well as storage laws to make sure they don't get loose and do things like this.;...
@NW-Economist You really should show respect for the family that lost their love one and not try to make a point with another issue.Â
@Just my say @NW-Economist Why? Trains cause death, they must be bad right?
To many people fall into depression and feel that they have no one to turn to. I hope the family finds peace in the coming days and don't blame themselves.
@Just my say Very true. The down economy has hit people in ways we cannot imagine. Can't pay for the necessities but you are surrounded by those who can. Maybe no health insurance. Marriages have dissolved due to stress associated with money issues. I feel bad for her.
@Pollywannacracker
Where is her financial situation mentioned? Secondly, we have ZERO concept of financial hardship. Even the poorest amongst us usually seem to have cell phones/cigs/cable TV. Stupid is a far greater problem than true poverty.
Shouldnt the caption read  person walks in front of train  Sad for the familys
Trains +1, idiots -1.
Why are things like this still news? We KNOW there are stupid People here! I swear someone gets smeared by a train every week!Â
@PhunkyMunky Plus - if people are going to take themselves out - please do it without an audience or traumatizing innocent people.
Have some respect for the living, please...
Trains don't hit people. People walk into the paths of trains. The headline insinuates that the train was somehow at fault. People need to watch where they're going.
@doubleoevan Whatever has the forward momentum gets awarded the headline apparently...
Trains can't stop on a dime. The train will win everytime when it comes to anything smaller then it. People just need to pay attention to  what is around them.Â
Another moron killed by a train prob has headphones on and or texting walking not paying attention.
@Seattle Something about the mention of a likely suicide would tend to nulify that theory....
@Throbbinhood @SeattleThe story was updated after there post, there may not have been any mention of suicide when they made a comment.Â
@Seattle I saw a teen boy almost get hit today after he stepped out into the road in front of a car with no warning, not near a crosswalk, the idiot boy was texting.
What ever happened to the "look both ways" concept? That was a big part of my early childhood eduction along with not sticking things in the electrical sockets, not playing with matches, and not drinking anything found under the sink.