State officials and nursing home investigate light-rail death
(AP) - State investigators and nursing home officials are looking into the death of a 79-year-old woman who fell underneath a train at the Franklin Ave. light-rail station.
Evelyn Cotton was a resident at the Good Samaritan Society-University Specialty Center in southeast Minneapolis for the past seven years.
"It was a very tragic situation," the home's executive director, Sharon St. Mary, said Sunday. "We've known her for a very long time."
Cotton's brother, Alton Musich of Loyal, Wis., said Cotton had tremors and that the nursing home called him several times to say she had fallen. He said her health had been slipping and he thinks she suffered from something like Parkinson's disease.
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But both Musich and St. Mary said they didn't know of any restrictions that would have barred Cotton from leaving the nursing home as she pleased.
St. Mary said that the center has reviewed surveillance video, and it appears that Cotton left the home about 1 p.m. Friday, a half-hour before arriving at the light-rail station.
Police said Cotton fell between a two-car train that had just started to leave the station on its way to downtown Minneapolis.
Security footage suggests Cotton lost her footing - before she fell onto the tracks, she might have tried to stop herself by reaching out to grab the car.
Cotton was the fourth person to be killed by a light-rail train since the service began operating nearly three years ago. Her death was the first involving a light-rail customer.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
