27 October 2008
Woman's Death by Train Could Have Been Avoided
Toronto Ontario - Toronto police and Canadian Pacific
Railway officials say the death of a 20-year-old woman who was struck by a train as her sister and friend looked on could
have been avoided.
The three apparently ducked under a lowered railway-crossing arm in the city's north end Saturday night, ignoring the
flashing lights.
"The train barricade arm came down and for whatever reason, the three of them decided to circumvent that barricade," said
Toronto police Sgt. Tim Burrows.
The three women made it across one set of tracks, but as they tried to make their way across a second, the victim tripped and was run
over by a two-car CP freight train.
Burrows said the woman's family, who live close by, rushed to the scene to identify her body but have asked police not to release her
name.
"Normally, when a train goes across the crossing, it sounds a horn. In this case, presumably because the city had requested it,
the train did not activate its whistle," Mike LoVecchio, CP's senior manager of media relations, said Sunday.
LoVecchio added that CN and CP co-operated with noise complaints likely because it is a residential area and all other
safety conditions were being met.
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