A 17-year-old boy who was killed by a TRAX train Monday apparently stepped in front of the train deliberately.
"Based on witness reports, we are investigating this tragic incident as a suicide," said West Jordan police officer Ian Adams.
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Adams did not describe what witnesses saw to lead them to conclude the teen acted intentionally when he stepped onto the track in front of an eastbound train near 8600 South and 3200 West — the same intersection where a teenage girl was fatally hit in June.
The boy’s body was found at least 60 feet from the intersection; investigators have not determined whether he was in the intersection when he was struck about 7:20 p.m. He died at the scene.
Police were withholding the teen’s name pending family notifications.
TRAX service on the Red Line was shut down between the 2700 West and Jordan Valley TRAX stations because of the accident, UTA reported. A bus bridge was transporting passengers around the affected area. The Red Line runs from University Hospital to the Daybreak housing development.
On June 8, 15-year-old Shariah Casper was killed at the same crossing. She and her cousin were walking home and stopped at the intersection as an eastbound train passed by. A sound wall blocked their view of a westbound train, and Shariah walked into the crossing, where she was hit.
In the days after her death, UTA removed the sound walls and added more safety features. On the sides of roads where gates that drop in front of cars do not also drop in front of sidewalks, the UTA installed rail fences that funnel pedestrians to swing gates. Signs on the gates urge them to look both ways before proceeding.
Also, it added electronic signs at pedestrian level depicting trains, which light up when a train is approaching and elicit the sounds of ringing bells.
Witnesses reported all safety mechanisms were functioning properly at the time of the crash.
The Tribune will report more details as they become available.
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