Intoxicated woman asleep on tracks killed by train in Salt Lake City

A woman was killed and a man injured early Sunday after they apparently decided to sleep on some railroad tracks in Salt Lake City and were hit by a train.

Salt Lake City police Lt. Scott White said police received a call from a Union Pacific train engineer about 2 a.m. Sunday worrying that he might have just hit two people near 500 West.

When the train was finally able to stop about a mile away near 1150 West, officers determined that two people had been hit, White said.

The woman, who was in her 40s, was already dead. Her arm had been severed.

White said her male companion, who was also in his 40s, was so intoxicated he didn't even realize he had been hit by a train and didn't even wake up at the impact or when police arrived to check on him.

That man suffered a broken leg.

White said it appeared both were homeless and intoxicated at the time of the incident.

jstecklein@sltrib.com

Twitter @sltribjanelle