Amtrak passenger train strikes, kills pedestrian crossing tracks in Sumner

TACOMA — A southbound Amtrak passenger train struck and killed a 53-year-old male pedestrian crossing the BNSF Railway tracks in Sumner about 10 a.m. Saturday.

The incident occurred at the Zehnder Street crossing north of downtown Sumner, said Carmen Palmer, a Sumner police spokeswoman.

The man’s identity had not been confirmed by early afternoon Saturday. The pedestrian’s body was in custody of the Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office.

BNSF Railway spokesman Gus Melonas said the man was believed to have lived in a home adjacent to the tracks.

The accident halted train traffic on the southbound tracks for several hours while the investigation was conducted, Palmer said.

Melonas said there were 27 train fatalities in Washington state in 2015. This was the first train accident of 2016.