DENVER - A male pedestrian was struck and killed by a light rail train in downtown Denver Thursday afternoon.
The train was eventually stopped at 14th Street and California Street where the victim was pronounced dead. There were significant road closures in the area, and sections of the track several blocks back from where the train stopped was taped off.
It's not clear where the man was struck or how he ended up underneath the train. Several people called 911 saying they saw the man being dragged by a middle car of a light rail train.
"We have people saying they saw, that they spotted the man underneath the train as the train was traveling," DPD spokesperson Sonny Jackson said.
Jackson says the Regional Transportation District reported a man playing near the tracks before the accident, but investigators are not sure if it was the same person who was struck and dragged under the train.
A woman who witnessed the gruesome scene said she was walking from her car to the convention center when she noticed an almost unidentifiable object beneath the RTD train.
"I looked down, and I just noticed that the train was dragging something," Joanne Crawford said. "I realized the shapes were a body,"
Police are interviewing witnesses and looking at video from cameras in the area to determine exactly what happened.
"We're trying to determine just when this individual was impacted by the train," said Jackson. "Did he fall under it? Did he dive under the train? We don't know any of that at this point in time."
The victim's name has not been released.
(KUSA-TV © 2015 Multimedia Holdings Corporation with The Associated Press)
