SUV goes through guardrail, plunges 70 feet onto train tracks in Tacoma; driver killed



TACOMA -- An SUV drove through a guardrail near the Tacoma Avenue Bridge Friday afternoon and plunged 70 to 100 feet to the Sound Transit tracks below. The driver was killed, police said.

All trains were stopped for a couple of hours, until the vehicle could be cleared.

The driver was the only occupant in the Ford Explorer, police said.

The incident happened at about 4:40 p.m. Friday, police said.

Police earlier said the SUV had gone off the Tacoma Avenue Bridge, which is undergoing construction. But police later clarified that the driver did not go off the bridge, but near it.

Police said the incident occurred at the intersection of Tacoma Avenue and Center Street. The driver was heading southbound, drove through the guardrail at the southeast corner of the intersection and landed on the Sound Transit tracks, police said.

The cause is under investigation.

This is the second such incident in a one-week period.

On the previous Friday, April 10, an SUV plunged off the L Street overpass onto southbound Interstate 5 near the Tacoma Dome during the afternoon rush hour, killing the driver. Amazingly, no other vehicles were hit by the falling SUV.