Train strikes, kills high school junior

Sat., Oct. 2, 2010

John Branton (Vancouver, Wash.) Columbian

A Mountain View High School student was struck and killed by a BNSF Railway locomotive Thursday afternoon on the tracks near Southeast Evergreen Highway, about one-fifth mile west of the Interstate 205 bridge, a railway official said.

Evergreen Public Schools identified the student as Mindy Doster, a 17-year-old junior.

Carol Fenstermacher, spokeswoman for Evergreen Public Schools, said extra counselors were on hand at Mountain View to speak with students reeling from the loss of their second classmate this week.

Robert A. Gonzalez II, 15, died Tuesday afternoon when the truck he was a passenger in rolled over not far from where the 17-year-old was struck Thursday.

“We’re just taking it minute by minute,” Fenstermacher said.

The freight train’s engineer saw Doster about 5 p.m., sounded the horn and activated the emergency braking system, said railway spokesman Gus Melonas.

Melonas said officials found an iPod in the area believed to be Doster’s, although it wasn’t known if she’d been listening to it when she was struck.

Illia Botvinnik, an officer with Vancouver Police Department, said Doster’s death was believed to have been accidental.

The single set of tracks where Doster was killed is one of the railway’s main lines, running east and west via the Columbia River Gorge. About 35 trains pass over the line daily.

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