Video Released Showing Light Rail Train Hit Pedestrian

Police have released a video from a light rail accident that seriously injured a pedestrian late last year. The accident happened around 3:15 p.m. on November 29 at Central Avenue and Indian School Road in Phoenix. According to the Phoenix police report, the pedestrian started from the sidewalk on the northeast corner of the intersection heading west in the crosswalk. Police said as he crossed the first rails, the man turned and jogged slowly northwest out of the crosswalk. He was apparently not looking in the direction of the northbound train and "was apparently oblivious to the closely approaching light rail vehicle." Police said the light rail operator saw the pedestrian and hit the emergency brakes and was decelerating when the man was struck just north of the crosswalk. Police said if the victim could hear the warning signal from the light rail train, he may have assumed it was coming from a train that had just gone through the intersection southbound. According to the report, an officer was nearby and was at the scene quickly, finding the victim partially under the left front corner of the lead light rail vehicle. The victim had reportedly worked his way out from under the vehicle and was trying to get up. Fire department paramedics were able to keep the man from getting up before they could transport him to the hospital with a serious head injury, fractured pelvis and multiple rib fractures. Police concluded that the pedestrian failed to obey the traffic light and was inattentive to the approaching light rail vehicle that had the right of way, causing the collision.