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Midvale • Police suspect a woman may have intentionally stepped in front of a Utah Transit Authority train here Wednesday. She died at the scene.
Witnesses saw Kimberly K. Merrill, 46, of Sandy walking south parallel to the Midvale TRAX line across Fort Union Boulevard (7200 South), said Unified Police Department Lt. Justin Hoyal. Just after 12:30 p.m., Merrill stopped about halfway across the street, looked back over her shoulder at the oncoming train and "stepped into the path of the train," Hoyal said.
The train carried about 30 passengers. It was traveling south at about 30-40 mph during the collision. Police questioned several witnesses after they shut down a block of traffic in the area of 7200 South and about 250 West. In a release Wednesday night, Hoyal said the Merrill's actions appeared to be "intentional and deliberate."
UTA spokesperson Gerry Carpenter said the Sandy line experienced delays for much of the afternoon while service was limited to a single track. All tracks reopened to trains about 5:25 p.m., and normal TRAX schedules resumed.
Witnesses told police crossing arms were down and lights were flashing before the accident, but there is no crossing arm on the west side of westbound traffic where she crossed.
Ronda Sierra of Midvale did not see the collision, but said she was driving west on Fort Union Boulevard when she passed Merrill trying to cross the road in a very peculiar way.
"I thought, 'That is kind of a crazy place to cross traffic,' " Sierra said, noting Merrill was partially hidden as she stood behind a crossing arm pole walking very closely to the west side of the tracks.
Sierra heard a screeching sound as the train came to a stop where the tracks intersect 7200 South.
This is the fourth pedestrian accident and the third fatality this year involving UTA trains. In February and May, there were two serious injuries to pedestrians at Stadium and Library stations. In June, a teen girl was hit and killed by a test train after trying to cross the tracks on the Mid-Jordan line. Since that accident visibility changes have been made to the area. In late July, a woman jumped in front of a FrontRunner train in Sunset and was killed. It was ruled a suicide.
In 2009 and 2010 on TRAX and FrontRunner lines, there were three fatalities each year, according to UTA.
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