Woman injured by train

Copyright © 2009
Gallup Independent
By Phil Stake
Staff writer

GALLUP — A 57-year-old woman suffered a crushed pelvis and multiple severed toes when she was hit by a train Saturday night.

Elizabeth Warner, 57, was found lying between the rails inside the train tunnel near Ninth Street and Maloney Avenue after she was hit around 10 p.m. Saturday, according to Gallup Police.

Police say she lay on the track before the train passed through. Her reason remains unclear.

Warner is the first Gallup-area train victim in 2009. During 2008 there were at least seven train versus pedestrian incidents reported while in 2007 five incidents were reported. In most cases last year the victim died.

2008

Edison Livingston, 75, died in a Lubbock, Texas, was taken to the hospital after he was struck by a train July 29 at around 5 p.m. Livingston had been walking on the tracks across from the Front Row Seat video store when he was hit.

***Correction***

Relatives of Edison Livingston, 75, who the Independent had reported as having died in 2008, said he is alive and well in Albuquerque.

The Independent reported in an article on Wednesday that Livingston had died after being struck by a train on July 29, 2008.

Relatives reported that Livingston had been struck by a train and had been taken to Lubbock, Texas, for treatment from several fractures but had recovered from his injuries.He stayed in Lubbock fro a month and then returned to New Mexico and is now living with relatives in Albuquerque.

***End Correction***

Vonerick Begay, 18, died instantly when he was hit by an Amtrak train Aug. 9 around 9 a.m. in West Gallup. Begay had been sitting on the north rail and did not respond to the train’s air horn, according to the conductor.

That same Saturday, N.M. State Police reported two teenagers — a male and a female — were killed when they were hit by a Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad train near Laguna.

Justice Coonsis, 41, died instantly when she was hit by an eastbound freight train Sept. 29 around 10:40 a.m. in Churchrock. Coonsis had been jogging along the tracks with headphones, which police believe prevented her from hearing the oncoming train.

Kelvin Shirley was struck a week after Coonsis while crossing the tracks around 4 p.m. at Third Street in Gallup.

Terrell Curley, 28, was killed instantly when he was hit by an eastbound BNSF train on the western edge of Grants around 9:30 p.m. Oct. 15.

2007

Patricia Williams, 41, died instantly after she was hit by a train across from Earl’s Restaurant Sept. 9. As is often the case, police believe alcohol played a role in Williams’ unfortunate end.

An unidentified man escaped death Oct. 11, when he moved partially out of the way of a freight train at the Second Street crossing in Gallup. The man suffered severe injuries and was transported to UNM Hospital in Albuquerque.

Vernon Long, 40, died Oct. 24 after he was hit by a train around 11:50 a.m. at the Second Street Crossing in Gallup. Long died as emergency personnel were transporting him to Gallup Airport in order to take him to a Denver hospital.

Genevieve Spunk, 38, was taken to an Albuquerque hospital after she was struck by a train Nov. 10.
An unidentified man died instantly after he was hit by an Amtrak train near Comfort Inn in West Gallup around 9:30 p.m. Nov. 10. The train’s engineer told police the man walked onto the tracks, sat down and faced the oncoming train.