A passenger train hit and killed a woman in northeast Salem Tuesday night, the Salem Police Department announced Wednesday.
Shortly after 6 p.m., Salem police officers responded to a call reporting a passenger train traveling through the city had struck person in the area of the 1800 block of Northeast Bill Frey Drive, the department said in a statement.
Police learned the Amtrak engineer sounded the horn when a woman was seen sitting on the tracks.
The woman, later identified as 47-year-old Judith Araceli Mojica Abarca of Salem, stood up but “not in sufficient time to avoid being struck by the fast-moving train,” according to the department’s statement.
Abarca was pronounced deceased at the scene.
Correction: The headline for this story was updated to reflect that the fatal crash occurred on Tuesday, not Monday. Salem Reporter regrets the error.
Contact reporter Ardeshir Tabrizian: [email protected] or 503-929-3053.
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Ardeshir Tabrizian has covered criminal justice and housing for Salem Reporter since September 2021. As an Oregon native, his award-winning watchdog journalism has traversed the state. He has done reporting for The Oregonian, Eugene Weekly and Malheur Enterprise.
