Man hit and killed by MAX Train, in Lents

Officials aren’t saying much about this accident – which happened right next to a MAX Light Rail station …

Some crew members stand by, while other emergency first-responders work under this MAX train to free a man struck and dragged at the Division Street Station.

Story and photos by David F. Ashton
Just minutes after 4:00 p.m. on December 22, a 48-year-old man stepped into the path of a southbound TriMet MAX Green Line Light Rail train station.

“I saw it from the corner of my eye,” MAX rider Elliott Rockwell said.

“I don’t know if he was trying to get across the [track grade crossing, in front of the train] and was [walking] too slow, or what,” Rockwell told East Portland News.

A firefighter with Portland Fire & Rescue Truck 7 passes more cribbing to crew members, working under the light rail train. Dick Harris/PF&R photo

Paramedics hook up a medical monitor the victim, while other crew members work to free him from under the train. Dick Harris/PF&R photo

At the MAX Division Street Station, riders must board the trains from a raised platform, located between the northbound and southbound tracks. Thus, riders must cross the southbound tracks when coming or going to meet trains at this station.

As the sun sets, Special Rescue crew members from PF&R Station 1 grab more cribbing and another small jack from their truck.

Rescue workers prepare to pull the victim out from under the train.

The man trapped under the second unit of the train, later identified Phu Van Nguyen, and was an outer East Portland resident from the Powellhurst-Gilbert neighborhood.

Portland Fire & Rescue crews used specifically-designed tools and materials, such as air jacks and custom-sized cribbing, to slowly raise the railcar enough to slide Nguyen from beneath the train.

A firefighter guides the ambulance out of the MAX Station area.

A Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office deputy and Portland Police Bureau sergeant stand guard over a plastic bag containing the victim’s personal effects.

It took about an hour for the rescue crew to release the trapped victim.

Emergency workers told reporters that Nguyen was semi-conscious when an ambulance transported him for care; but he died at a Portland hospital on Sunday evening.

Officials say this accident is still under investigation, and no other information is currently available.

> On the front page: Specially-trained firefighters work to rescue a man, trapped under the TriMet MAX Light Rail Train. Dick Harris/PF&R photo

© 2013 David F. Ashton ~ East Portland News

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