Los Angeles Times

Woman dragged to death by train

- By Rong-Gong Lin II

SAN FRANCISCO — A woman who boarded a BART train while tethered to her dog was dragged to her death after she briefly stepped off the train at a platform and the train pulled away with the dog still inside, authoritie­s said.

The fatal accident occurred at 3:16 p.m. Monday, just after the woman boarded an Oakland-bound train at San Francisco’s Powell Street station with her dog, which was tethered to her at the waist.

“Then at the very last second, right as the doors were closing, she fully off-boarded the train, clearing the doors, and the dog did not,” the Bay Area Rapid Transit agency said in a statement. “She appeared to be waving at someone. The train departed with the dog inside the train, and the woman was dragged and pulled into the track.” The dog was not injured.

The only animals allowed on the BART system on a leash are service dogs for people with disabiliti­es. “There was no visual indication the dog was a service animal, but it is under investigat­ion,” the agency said.

“This is a tragic loss of life,” a BART spokeswoma­n Alicia Trost said in the statement.

The National Transporta­tion Safety Board has launched an investigat­ion.

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