Police and medics were dispatched shortly after 10:15 p.m. to the CSX crossing at West Walnut Street on a report of a pedestrian hit by a train. Multiple people called 911 to report a woman was bleeding from the head and that she was breathing but unconscious, according to a Tipp City Police Department report.
Steele was taken to Miami Valley Hospital, where she was pronounced deceased on arrival.
Her husband was crying hysterically and told officers she tried to beat the train. He said they had been arguing and that she had “too much” to drink, the police report stated.
The conductor told Tipp City police that Steele was struck by the right front edge of the 134-car train and that he did not see anyone around at the time of the crash.
The train was headed north and the conductor said he saw Steele on the ground on the west side of the tracks when she tried to stand and cross over the railroad tracks to the east side after the crossing arms were down.
“He observed her stand up and fall again near the tracks and observed her hit part of the first engine with her body,” the report stated. He told officers “there was nothing he could do.”
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