A man was killed Thursday afternoon after being hit by an RTD light-rail train.
Denver police were uncertain exactly where the accident happened. However, police believe he was dragged a “significant distance” before the northbound train stopped at 14th and California streets, near the Colorado Convention Center.
Regional Transportation District officials said service along the downtown loop was halted at about 3:30 p.m and did not resume until 7 p.m.
Hours after the accident, traffic remained snarled throughout downtown and the surrounding area.
“At this point, all we know is that there’s a deceased individual under the train. … Our goal is to determine exactly what happened,” Denver police spokesman Sonny Jackson said shortly before the body was extracted from beneath the train.
Jackson confirmed that RTD had reported a man playing near tracks before the accident, but police are not sure whether it’s same person.
A worker near the Auraria campus said he witnessed someone passed out on the side of the tracks before the accident. He said he waited at the scene until campus police arrived but was unsure whether the man was the accident victim.
The accident was first reported by witnesses near the convention center, Jackson said. They called 911 saying a person was being dragged under the train.
Passengers were taken off the train and interviewed by police, and investigators also studied video footage and interviewed passers-by.
Firefighters extracted the body by 5 p..m.
