PORTLAND, Ore. — A man was hit and killed by a MAX train in Northeast Portland on June 5, according to police.
Police identified the man as John Rutherford, 49, of Portland.
Police said Rutherford was involved in a trespassing incident just hours before he was struck by the MAX train. A woman reported a man had walked into her home on Northeast Broadway around 12:24 p.m. He eventually left when the woman's husband and sons stepped in, according to police.
Officers found Rutherford on Northeast Schuyler Street and asked him to stop, but he refused. More officers arrived and arrested him. Police said Rutherford couldn't be taken to jail because of booking restrictions. An officer issued him a criminal citation for trespassing in the first-degree and an unrelated warrant.
Police said around 2:31 p.m., officers responded to a report of a man walking in traffic at I-84 and Northeast 68th Avenue. Several people reported the man was swinging a large rock and a pipe at passing cars. As officers tried to locate the suspect, they learned he had been hit by a MAX train.
Police said the man, later identified as Rutherford, died at the scene.
Two westbound lanes of I-84 were closed as the Traffic Division's Major Crash Team investigated.
