Pedestrian Struck, Killed By SMART Train In Rohnert Park

ROHNERT PARK, CA — A woman who was struck and killed by a Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit train in Rohnert Park Thursday morning ignored the crossing arms and tried to run across the tracks when she was hit, according to the Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety. The Department of Public Safety responded around 7:50 a.m. to the pedestrian fatality.

The Sonoma County Sheriff-Coroner's office identified the deceased as Jimmie Joy Qualls, a 30-year-old woman from La Grange, which is in Stanislaus County.

People on the train did not see the collision, but the engineer said the crossing arms were down and the train was sounding its horn, Deputy Chief Aaron Johnson said.

The collision happened in the area of Golf Course Drive and Roberts Lake Road, Johnson said.

The woman's body was found against a fence about 50 yards from where she was hit, Johnson said. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

The woman had a conflict with SMART's code enforcement officers during the past week, Johnson said.

"They kept trying to get her to stay off the tracks. She was aggressive and defiant," he said.

SMART spokeswoman Jeanne Mariani-Belding said SMART ran bus shuttles for passengers between the downtown Santa Rosa and Cotati train stations after the collision.

—Bay City News Service; Patch local editor Maggie Avants contributed to this report.