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A 19-year-old woman who was struck by a train Friday afternoon near downtown Palo Alto has died, Caltrain confirmed. She was identified by the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner as Sarah Marie Longyear.
She was a 2014 graduate of Gunn High School, according to a message Palo Alto Unified Superintendent Max McGee sent to staff and parents Saturday.
Longyear sustained significant injuries after she was hit by a northbound train near Palo Alto Avenue, according to Caltrain.
She was initially reported as alive and was transported to Stanford Hospital. She died in the hospital, according to Caltrain spokesperson Jayme Ackemann.
The Friday incident occurred at about 3 p.m., near the Transit Center in downtown Palo Alto. Elena Wychoff, a passenger on the train involved in the incident, said she heard the collision. Wychoff said she was in the second car from the front.
Trains were stopped in both directions while officers from the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office investigated the incident. Service in both directions resumed at 3:45 p.m., according to Caltrain.
Ackemann said northbound train #155 returned to the downtown station, where passengers got off and the boarded the next northbound train.
Shortly after the incident, Alma Street was closed to traffic at Hawthorne Avenue and at Alma and El Camino Real. Northbound traffic was diverted to Hawthorne. Alma reopened in both directions just after 4 p.m.
The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority provided a bus service for passengers between the Menlo Park, Palo Alto and California Avenue stations.
Grief counselors, mental-health therapists and psychologists will be available to support students and teachers at Gunn and throughout the school district on Monday and throughout the week, McGee wrote in his message to the school community.
“I also would like to stress that it is imperative for all of us to be vigilant and keep a close eye on our children and to encourage them to look after one another,” he wrote.
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Any person who is feeling depressed, troubled or suicidal is urged to call 1-800-784-2433 to speak with a crisis counselor. People in Santa Clara County can also call 1-855-278-4204.
Links below provide resources where one can receive help and safety information:
What a tragedy. More info: http://www.studlife.com/news/2016/04/25/friends-family-remember-in-wake-of-students-death/
I heard just a few days before this latest tragedy that suicide rates across the board are on the rise. Here’s a link to one of the articles analyzing the figures. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/04/22/suicide-rate-rise-us/83284568/
What we see in Palo Alto is horrible, but the train has now become the means of choice and since any such event is visible and affects train riders and local roadusers in a knockon effect. When somebody jumps off the Golden Gate Bridge, it is barely news since the knockon effect is minimal.
The fact that the train driver, the emergency response staff, and even the drivers waiting at the gates for the train to pass get to witness the event, have something that will stay with them forever, adds to this being a particularly difficult situation for the local community.
The fact that a teacher has an empty seat in the classroom, the students have one less classmate, is incredibly sad even if they did not know the person well, makes the whole community suffer.
I won’t have it that we have all these people suffering from mental illness. I suspect that depression, stress, self-esteem all weigh on healthy minds much more than they did in the past.
This is an area of high expectations at all levels. Parents, schools, employers and society in general are all raising standards of acceptable success markers. For real changes to occur some very big outlooks on life need to happen.
It is perfectly acceptable to be a B student. It is perfectly acceptable to get into a good college that isn’t IV. It is perfectly acceptable to be a good worker bee without being a doctor, a lawyer, or even a high tech executive.
I am saddened that once again we are mourning the life of a young Palo Alto or Silicon Valley raised life. We are all in this together to make the future seem brighter for those who see themselves as having a life not worth living.
Was this a suicide? So sad either way.
Let’s not blame Palo Alto. It can happen anywhere.