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Light rail strikes woman
March 15, 2007
By Joe Nguyen
nguyejos@mscd.edu

An RTD light-rail train struck a woman at approximately 11:30 a.m. March 15 at the Colfax at Auraria station.

Chris Cox, a witness at the scene, said the woman crossed the tracks heading south when she turned around and the train struck her.

“The corner of the light rail hit her and basically dragged her for three feet and threw her another two feet,” said Cox, a Metro freshman.

Cox said he and other people in the area kept her awake and tried to turn her on her side so she wouldn’t drown in her own blood.

“She was alert,” he said. “We kept telling her to talk to us.”

According to RTD spokesman Scott Reed, the paramedics on the scene said that her injuries did not appear to be life threatening.

“She sustained some level of lacerations to her head and was transported to the hospital,” he said.

Reed said that the side-front portion of the train knocked her away from any real danger.

“Luckily she was not run over by the train,” he said.

Cox said he thinks the trains enter the station too fast and it’s dangerous for the people in the area.

“Whatever the regulations are, that’s fine,” he said. “I think the most important thing is that the girl’s OK.”

According to Reed, a police officer on the scene told his supervisor that he intends to issue a citation to the woman because she stepped in the path of the train.

As of press time, a police report was unavailable.