Officials say woman tried to run across tracks when killed by train

A woman who was struck and killed by a Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit train in Rohnert Park Thursday morning ignored the crossing arms and tried to run across the tracks when she was hit, according to the Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety.

The Department of Public Safety responded around 7:50 a.m. to the pedestrian fatality. People on the train did not see the collision, but the engineer said the crossing arms were down and the train was sounding its horn, Deputy Chief Aaron Johnson said.

The collision happened in the area of Golf Course Drive and Roberts Lake Road, Johnson said.

The woman’s body was found against a fence about 50 yards from where she was hit, Johnson said. She was pronounced dead at the scene. The woman, who appears to be in her 40s, had a conflict with SMART’s code enforcement officers during the past week, Johnson said.

Johnson said:

“They kept trying to get her to stay off the tracks. She was aggressive and defiant.”

SMART spokeswoman Jeanne Mariani-Belding said SMART ran bus shuttles for passengers between the downtown Santa Rosa and Cotati train stations after the collision.