MARTA: Train jumper was attempting suicide

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By Christian Boone and Larry Hartstein

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A woman rescued from under a MARTA train at Five Points Tuesday morning was trying to kill herself, a transit authority spokeswoman said.

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Atlanta rescue personnel bring a woman out of the Five Points MARTA station after she was rescued from under a train on Tuesday morning.

Mike Morris, mmorris@ajc.com Atlanta rescue personnel bring a woman out of the Five Points MARTA station after she was rescued from under a train on Tuesday morning.

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The woman was conscious and alert with head injuries that appeared not to be life-threatening.

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Nicole Smith, 30, spotted by a witness jumping out of her wheelchair as a train approached, survived despite being passed over by several cars. MARTA shut power to the tracks while rescue workers freed her.

Smith, who sustained only minor injuries, is being charged under the Georgia Mental Health Act which requires she be held at a medical facility for evaluation, said MARTA spokeswoman Cara Hodgson.

Firefighters used ropes to pull her on a stretcher from beneath the train. Atlanta Fire Capt. Jolyon Bundridge said Smith's small stature "helped her avoid the underside of the chassis of the train."

The incident happened on the northbound side shortly after 8 a.m.

MARTA passenger Vickie Mullins was near the front of the train when Smith, of Atlanta, "just got up and jumped."

Mullins said the train operator hit the emergency brakes, but about half the train's cars passed over the woman.

"It was really, really scary,” Mullins told the AJC.

Mullins said that the train operator stopped the train "and just started screaming, and everybody was trying to get in to help her."

A MARTA police officer finally opened the train doors to let the passengers out, Mullins said.

Throughout the morning, MARTA ran a bus shuttle between Civic Center and West End as they tended to Smith. Trains ran both ways but only on the southbound track. MARTA announced that all service had returned to normal around noon.

--Staff writers Mike Morris and Mark Davis contributed to this report.