Tuesday, July 7, 1998

Blue Line Kills Woman in Willowbrook

Woman Walking on Tracks Killed by Train

Los Angeles Times
July 08, 1998

A 46-year-old woman was struck and killed by a Blue Line train Tuesday, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said.

Sylvia Sayles of Los Angeles was walking on the tracks when she was hit by a train shortly before 8 a.m. at Willowbrook Avenue and Imperial Highway, said MTA spokesman Ed Scannell.

The gates were down and the red lights were flashing when she was hit by a southbound train, Scannell said.

County Fire Department paramedics pronounced Sayles dead from massive trauma, he said.

Forty-one people have been killed in car and pedestrian collisions with Blue Line trains since the service began July 1990, including seven fatalities this year, he said.