Deaf woman fatally struck by train while walking on tracks

SMITHSBURG, Md. – Police say a deaf woman walking on the railroad tracks was fatally struck by an oncoming freight train in the western Maryland town of Smithsburg.

Washington County Sheriff's Detective Howard Ward said Tuesday that 51-year-old Kathy Lynn Williams of Smithsburg apparently didn't see the CSX train or hear several warning blasts from its horn.

He says Williams was struck about 1 p.m. Monday while walking down the middle of the tracks toward the northbound train.

Ward says a video recording from the CSX locomotive shows the woman looking straight down as she walked.