A west-bound Blue Line MAX struck and killed a pedestrian this morning at around 10:30 AM, just outside the Baseline station. This is the 26th death-by-MAX to occur in Portland since the first light rail line opened in 1986. Two of those deaths were ruled suicides, but this one, at least initially, appears the be an accident.

TriMet spokeswoman Mary Fetsch says there is nothing known about the victim yet except that she was a 20-something woman. She was walking on the sidewalk with her head down, then walked into the crosswalk and was struck by the train. “The crossing gates were down and there were audible warnings,” says Fetsch. “We’re not sure why she had her head down, or whether she was wearing headphones or texting or anything like that.” TriMet is investigating.

Hillsboro Argus reporter Nick Christensen rides commutes on the MAX three hours a day from Lents to Hillsboro. He was on the train which struck the pedestrian and recalled the accident:

You could feel, it was definitely a hard, hard braking. It wasn’t jarring, but you could tell they were slamming on the brakes. We could see people standing at the Baseline station with shocked looks and the operator came on and told us we would be there for a while. You could tell what was going on. The folks who were on the train, it wasn’t somber, just quiet. I’m glad that I couldn’t see anything really and I feel terrible for the driver.

Check out Christensen's whole article on being a witness to the incident next week in the Argus.