Man Killed On SMART Train Tracks ID'd

ROHNERT PARK, CA – The Sonoma County Sheriff's Office has identified the man who was struck and killed by a SMART train Thursday evening in Rohnert Park as Joseph Jay De Frates, 29, of Round Rock, Texas.

The Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety said it received two calls around 5 p.m. that a man walked in front of the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit train at the Golf Course Drive crossing.

De Frates' body was found away from the tracks near a fence, Cmdr. Aaron Johnson said. One witness said De Frates, who appeared to be wearing headphones on his ears, was walking on a sidewalk with his head down and he was looking at something in his hands, Johnson said.

The witness said he was surprised the man continued walking as the northbound train approached with its horn sounding.

It did not appear the man tried to stop walking and ended up in the path of the train, according to the witness.

The train engineer saw the man walking, and sounded the horn and activated the emergency braking system.

The train stopped 300 feet from where the man was struck, Johnson said.

The 84 passengers on the train got alternative transportation at a nearby Park and Ride.

The Department of Public Safety and SMART officials determined all the warning systems were activated and functional at the crossing. The train engineer sounded the horn to alert the pedestrian even though the train was in a "quiet zone," Johnson said. The speed of the train is unknown, Johnson said.

There have been three fatal pedestrian-SMART train collisions since service started a year ago, and two of them are presumed suicides.

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