Police Identify Woman Killed After Train Collides With Truck in Polk County

At the intersection where the accident occurred, there were train crossing signs, but no signal gates.

File photo by: Tim King

(INDEPENDENCE) - A Willamette & Pacific Railroad engine struck a mini-truck early Thursday morning neat the intersection of Corvallis Rd and Stapleton Rd.

Polk County Fire District No. 1 spokesman Jason Cane says the single engine was heading southbound when it collided with the mini-truck around 6:13 AM.

41-year-old Tomasa Medina Perez, was the single occupant of the mini-truck, and was killed instantly in the accident.

At the intersection where the accident occurred, there were train crossing signs, but no signal gates.

The engineer told investigators that he blew his horn and tried to stop before hitting Perez' truck.

Investigators said the train was traveling at around 25 mph when the accident occured.

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Umm I work with this department and live in the town of Oregon that is a lot of assuptions. They were not saying that at all. THey were saying good job it wasnt anyones fault,and I think it is crap that you are trying to say that it is

Wow, that's a lot of assumptions on your part, Steve. They really didn't villainize the trains in this piece. They explained that there were signs, and that the train operator tried to warn her while travelling at a resonable speed. I think this was one of the more decently objective stories I've read in a while.

Well, here we go again....THE BIG OLD NASTY TRAINS. The railroad is going to be the "bad guy" again. Probably get sued byt he family of the lady. Oh, don't get me wrong, as the death is unfortunate and I feel for her family. BUT!!!!........what ever happened to common sense when approaching railroad crossings?......intersections?......merge lanes?.....anywhere that a driver needs to LOOK! OBSERVE! BE AWARE OF TRAFFIC, BE IT CAR, TRUCK, OR TRAIN. QUESTION: How often did this lady drive this road and cross this set of tracks? Daily? Weekly? Monthly? But we all know that common sense when driving is no longer a requirement when getting behind the wheel of a motor vehicle.

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